


Undercover at Hogwarts

by sammyluvsya



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Annabeth is dead, Fourth Year at Hogwarts, Harry Potter Crossover - Freeform, M/M, POV Multiple, Percico - Freeform, Slow Build, Sorry Not Sorry, after giant war, frank is dead, harry potter and percy jackson, harry potter percy jackson, hazel is dead, jason is dead, once again sorry not sorry, percy jackson crossover, their relationship takes forever to start
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-20
Updated: 2015-10-20
Packaged: 2018-04-26 02:40:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 26
Words: 62,309
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4986961
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sammyluvsya/pseuds/sammyluvsya
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The gods have Percy and Nico help the world that is unknown to demigods. The Wizarding World. Percy is changed into his fifteen-year-old self so he can fit in, and him and Nico are sent to help stop the war against Voldemort before it even starts.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Percy's POV

When the Giant had ended, only three of the seven heroes of the prophecy had made it out alive.  
Frank had been the one to close the doors, getting trapped on the other side.  
Jason had ended up sacrificing himself so he could save Piper.  
Annabeth had died in the Tartarus after her body had been tortured to the point that she couldn't survive.  
Hazel's soul had been sent back to the Underworld only hours after the doors were closed.  
The camp was rebuilding itself, but it was taking a lot longer since they had lost their number one architect.  
It had taken me six months to finally moved on from the loss of everyone who had died. I would've still been locked in my cabin grieving if Nico hadn't snuck me into the Underworld and showed me how happy everyone was in Elysium.  
Annabeth had told me that she wants me to be happy, and that I deserve to be happy. She told me that I was never meant to be with her.  
She said that Aphrodite's had come to her in a dream while she was in the Tartarus saying that she was just a guide for me so I could do all the things that I did.  
When I asked her what that meant, she said, "If it wasn't for me, you wouldn't've giving up immortality, which you needed to do. If you would've accepted it, you wouldn't have been able to be one of the heroes of the prophecy and you wouldn't've able to help out during the war because gods can't interfere with mortal affairs."  
Once she had seen that I had finally understood her, she gave me a hug goodbye and told me not to visit her again until I died myself, and then Nico and I shadow traveled back to camp.  
We had gotten 10 months of peace before Nico and I were summoned to Olympus.  
"Why are we here?" I asked as the two of us stood in the gods throne room.  
"We need your help," Zeus started out but Nico cut him off before he could say anything else.  
"We've helped you people enough and we've all lost a lot doing it."  
"Hush!" Zeus yelled. "We're sending you two on a quest to help save another world."  
"What other world?" I asked and Hades started explaining.  
"We, ourselves, cannot tell you. But we're sending you to London to figure it out for yourself."  
"Why can't you tell us?" I asked and Zeus shrugged.  
"It's against the natural law of things for us to even interfere with this, but since their world is in grave danger, you two need to help them."  
"Help who?" Nico asked.  
"We are going to tell you your quest, but not give you a prophecy, because I'm sure you guys have had enough of those," Dad said, completely ignoring Nico's question.  
"Bu-." I was cut off.  
"It will not be long until you run into those who need your help," Apollo started. "They will be able to see through the mist, but they cannot find out what you two are unless it's absolutely necessary. The headmaster knows what you are and that you’re coming, so go to him is you need anything. The people your helping are in their fourth year. Nico, you are the perfect age, and Percy, I'm sorry, but we're making you fifteen," he said and Zeus waved his hand and I looked at myself.  
No much changed. I shrunk a few inches and I lost some of my muscle, but that was it.  
"Now, it's time for you two to leave," Zeus said, and with another wave of his hand, we were out of the throne room and in the streets of London. 

 

 

Nico's POV

Naturally, the two of us had no idea what we were doing, so after walking around for twenty minutes talking about how the gods aren't helpful, we run into a group of around 10 empusas.  
I pulled out my Stygian Iron sword out of the shadows like my father had taught me and Percy pulled out Riptide and the two of us charged the monsters.  
Mortals started screaming and running away, and after about five minutes, Percy let out a scream and I saw him fall to the ground. I ran over to him and stood over him as I fought off the she-demons and after a few moments, these three teenagers run up to us pointing sticks at the monsters.  
"Get out of here!" I yelled, but the stayed anyways.  
"Petrificus Totalus!" they yelled and three different monsters went stiff and then fell to the ground, unable to move.  
I quickly finished off the rest of the empusas and then walked over to the three monsters on the ground and stabbed each of them in turn before running over to Percy.  
"Percy, are you okay?" I asked and Percy nodded. "That was a stupid question, you're not okay," I told him and I put pressure on the slash that was across his chest so I could stop his bleeding.  
"Do you have any Ambrosia or Nectar?" Percy asked and I shook my head.  
"They didn't give us time to pack anything. They just sent us here," I said and Percy groaned in pain.  
"Is he okay?" a British accent called as the three people who appeared earlier ran over to us.  
"Go away," I said rudely and Percy slapped my arm.  
"They might be the people we were sent here to help," he told me quietly. "Apollo said it wouldn't be long until we ran into them." Then he turned to the three people. "No, I'm not okay."  
"We should take him to the Burrow," the ginger said. "Mum will know what to do."  
"Are you sure?" the other boys asked and the girl slapped his arm.  
"Of course he's sure. The poor lad is bleeding out!" she yelled and the she crouched down by Percy. "Don't worry, we're going to help him," she said to me as she put he hand on Percy arm and my shoulder. Then, we were sucked into the darkness.

 

 

Harry's POV

As we appeared outside the Burrow, Ron ran inside to get his mum.  
The uninjured boy ran off and threw up. "What the fuck was that?" he yelled as he walked back over and muttered something about that being a terrible way to travel and then ran to the boy.  
"Percy," the he said as he tapped the injured boys face sort of hard. "Hey, stay awake. You're going to be okay."  
"No, I don't want to," the boy named Percy muttered.  
"Oh my goodness!" Mrs. Weasley yelled as she ran out of the house with the rest of the Weasley's following. "Bring him inside. We'll fix him up there."  
The boy whose name I don't know picked Percy up into his arms and followed Mrs. Weasley inside.  
"Put him on the couch dear," Mrs. Weasley told him and the boy did as she said and then he crouched down by his head.  
"Water," Percy muttered and the boy whispered something in his ear and Percy groaned.  
"Someone get the boy water," Mr. Weasley said as Mrs. Weasley pulled out her wand.  
"Take off his shirt," she said and as the boy tried to take it off, Percy grabbed his hand and told him no.  
"Percy, stop being a pain," the boy said.  
"No. I'm fine. I just need some rest."  
When he said that, I was seriously confused. His once orange shirt was now torn and soaked in red.  
Then, the boy slapped him across the face, and he didn't do so softly.  
"Stop being an idiot Percy!" he yelled.  
"Nico, I'm older than you. Leave me alone."  
"Actually, Perce, I'm older than you. Now, get your head out of your ass. You know you're going to bleed out unless you do what they say, and I'm pretty sure these nice people don't want their couch soaked in blood."  
Percy muttered something about hotels not counting, but I'm pretty sure he was just muttering incoherently because of the blood loss, and then he agreed.  
Nico helped Percy sit up and as he pulled of his shirt, everyone let out a small gasp.  
His body was covered in dark red scars and his chest and arms were soaked in blood, so if there were more scars there, we couldn't see them. There was also a gaping slash across the top half of Percy's chest that didn't seem like it wanted to stop bleeding any time soon. The boy that he came with Percy seemed bothered by the scars, but he seemed to ignore it.  
"Everyone back away," Mrs. Weasley said as she raised her wand and muttered something and Percy squealed in pain, but nothing happened. His wound didn't heal and it didn't stop bleeding.  
"Mum, what happened?" Ron asked and his mother looked bewildered.  
"I don't know," she said, shocked and she tried it again, but Percy just wined in pain again.  
"Let me try," Hermione said and the outcome was the exact same. All of a sudden, there was a small 'pop' and Dumbledore appeared in the room.  
"It's not going to work," he said, looking at the boy. "Go down the hill and do what you normally do."  
Nico lifted Percy into his arms. "We'll be right back," the he said and Nico ran out of the house with Percy.

 

Ron's POV

"Who are those people?" I asked and Dumbledore sighed and looked at Mum and Dad.  
"Would it be okay if they stayed here?" he asked and Mum looked shocked.  
"Of course, but why?"  
"They will be going to Hogwarts when the school year begins. You need to befriend them. They will be powerful allies in the war against Voldemort."  
"But who are they?" Harry asked.  
"They are the most power people you will ever meet," he said and everyone was shocked.  
"What about you?" Ginny asked and Dumbledore laughed.  
"They are the two most powerful people that have gone, or will ever go to, Hogwarts. They are more powerful than me. They are most powerful than Harry. They are even more powerful than Voldemort himself."  
"How?" Mrs. Weasley asked and Dumbledore shook his head.  
"I'm forbidden to tell you, and don't push them when it comes to their pasts, they will not like it."  
"Why are they so powerful?" Hermione asked.  
"It's their parents. That's all I can tell you about that. But you need to know this. No magic that comes from a wand will work on them. If you threaten one of them, or hurt one of them, they will come at you not with magic. They will come at you with something much more, and no matter what you do, you will not be able to stop them."

 

 

Percy's POV

As Nico and I were walking back to the house from the lake when the old man stopped us.  
"I am Professor Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts," he said.  
"You're the one who knows about us, right?" I asked and he chuckled and nodded.  
"Yes, I know that you're demigods. Before you ask, I'm not one myself."  
"Then what are you?" Nico asked.  
"I'm a wizard."  
"No way!" he yelled. "That's so cool!"  
"Yes, Nico, it is. Your parents have added a basement to the house for you two where you will be staying for the next two weeks. It's sound proof so no one can eavesdrop on you as you talk. Down there, you each have a trunk that is filled with all the stuff that you need for your year at Hogwarts, which is a wizarding school. You each have a wand in the basement that was designed by each of your parents. You both get your powers from within, and these wands will draw their power from there and help you seem like a real wizard."  
"Wait, so we'll be able to do magic?" Nico asked in shock.  
"Yes."  
"Oh my gods!" he yelled and started jumping up and down in excitement.  
"Nico," I said and put my hands on his shoulders, "Calm down. Your ten year old self is showing."  
"Now, I must be going, but try your hardest to act like normal wizards." And with that, he disappeared with a 'pop'.

 

 

Hermione's POV

A few minutes after Dumbledore left, Percy and Nico walked into the house. Percy had Nico's jacket on, covering up all the scars, and his wound from earlier.  
"Hi, we should probably introduce ourselves," Percy said. "I'm Percy Jackson."  
"And I'm Nico di Angelo."  
"Hello," I said to them. "I'm Hermione Granger."  
"I'm Ron Weasley."  
"Harry Potter."  
"Hi, I'm Mrs. Weasley, but you can just call me Molly, and this is my husband Arthur."  
"I'm Fred."  
"George."  
"And I'm Ginny."  
"Nice to meet you," Nico said.  
"I'm sorry if I bled on your couch," Percy said. "If I did, I just need a little hydrogen peroxide and I'll be able to get it out."  
"Don't worry dear," Molly said, "It's nice and clean, but are you okay?" she asked and Percy nodded.  
"I'm perfectly fine ma'am, just a tad tired."  
"I have a question," Harry said after a moment. "What was it that you two were fighting when we ran into you?"  
The two guests looked at each other.  
"I don't know what you saw," Nico started, "but we weren't fighting anything."  
"What are you talking about?" I asked, confused. "You two had swords and-." I was cut off by Percy who snapped his fingers and there was a slight breeze.  
"You didn't see anything. I was mugged and that's how I was injured."  
"Yeah, of course," Harry said and Ron and I nodded along, because what he said sounded right. Well...did it?  
"Well, we're exhausted, so we're just going to head to the basement and crash," Nico said and both of them walked away and we heard a door close.  
"Did they just say basement?"

 

 

Percy's POV

When we walked down the steps, I saw that there were two beds that each had a trunk at the bottom that I assumes was full of our stuff.  
One bed had a blue comforter on it; the other had a black one. Since we weren't stupid, we each walked over to our bed and opened up the trunk at the end.  
"What the Hades is this?" Nico asked as he pulled out a robe like thing.  
"I don't know," I said and shrugged. "I found my wand!" I yelled as I opened up a box that said 'From Dad' on it.  
It was a dark brown color with a simple design, but on the back end of it, there was a trident engraved into it.  
"Holy shit," Nico said as he pulled out his with a scary grin on his face. "It's made Stygian Iron. I could kill someone with this!"  
"Nico!" I yelled. "You are not allowed to stab anybody with your wand!"  
"You realize that what you just said could be taken many ways?" he told me and then we burst out laughing.  
"Get your mind out of the gutter, di Angelo," I said and slapped the back of his head.  
"I'm sorry, you set me up for that."  
"Nico, be more mature."  
"I'm fifteen, I can be mature later on. Wait," he said and thought for a moment, "I'm not the only one who's fifteen. You're weaker now. Percy, I challenge you to a sword fight. I think I might be able to beat you."  
I reached into my pocket and pulled out Riptide and Nico made his sword appear out of thin air. "You're on."

 

 

Nico's POV

I woke up to the sound of someone walking down the stairs.  
"Hello?" I said as I sat up and I saw Ginny.  
"Oh, hey," she said awkwardly. "Mum sent me down here to wake you guys up. Breakfast is almost ready."  
"Okay, but I should probably wake Percy up. He's normally very violent is you wake him wrong," I told her and her eyes widened.  
"Really?"  
"Yeah, watch," I said as I got out of bed and stretched. I walked over to Percy and started shaking him. "Wake up. Come on Perce, wakey wakey! Wake up, Percy. Wak-." My air supply was cut off by Percy's hand and he sat up and glared at me. "Perce!" I said as I grabbed his arm. "Percy, don't kill me!" After a moment of two, Percy just grunted and let go of my neck and laid back down, instantly asleep.  
I looked at Ginny who looked frightened. "Yeah," I said as I rubbed my neck, "It's painful waking him up."  
"Oh my god, that was horrifying," Ginny said and I chuckled.  
"Yeah, lets go eat. He'll be up in about ten minutes," I told her and we headed upstairs.  
Seeing everyone and talking to them was really awkward for me since I'm not the most social person in the world and it didn't help that I barely know these people. Ever since the war ended, more of the kids at camp would talk to me and Percy would make me respond, but it was still awkward.  
Percy walked in right as everyone was sitting down, and he and I were spread out along the table.  
As we were eating and talking, Percy stretched and Ron noticed the bruise I gave Percy last night when I slammed the hilt of my sword onto his chest.  
"Percy, what's on your chest?" he asked.  
"What?" Percy said and looked down. "Oh, that. Yeah, Nico almost broke my collar bone last night."  
"What?" They all said and looked at me and I shrugged.  
"All that matters is that, for the first time in my life, I beat Percy Jackson," I said with a triumphant smile.  
"Yeah, and it's going to be the last time too," he told me and I chuckled.  
"Percy, we both know that's not true."

 

 

Harry's POV

Nico and Percy had been over for a week now, and no one really know anything about them.  
Dumbledore had told us not to pry into their lives because they'll open up to us once they fully trust us.  
The only thing we do know is that they knew nothing about Hogwarts.  
We had to explain everything to them. And I mean everything. It was like they were cut off from the wizarding world, because they knew nothing about anything.  
"You've never ridden a broom?" Ron asked in shock and they shook their heads. "Okay, you guys stay there, I'll be right back," he said and ran off to the shed where they keep the brooms and was back within a minute. "Just but your hand over them and say up," he said and they did as they were told.  
To everyone's shock, the brooms flew up into their hands on their first try.  
"Okay, now get onto the broom and push up," Ron said and him and I demonstrated.  
"You mean we're going to fly?" Percy asked and I nodded.  
"Yes."  
"Like up in the air?" Nico questioned and Ron and I nodded.  
"Yeah, that's not going to happen," Percy said and put the broom down, and Nico copied his move.  
"Why not?"  
"I'm scared of heights," Nico said.  
"Same here," Percy added.  
"Come on, it's not that bad," Ron said, trying to convince them but they just kept shaking their heads.  
"I'm accident prone. If I go into the air I'm probably either going to get struck by a random thing of lightning or fall off. I'm not risking it." With that, they both walked back into the house.

 

 

Percy's POV

The Weasley’s, Harry, Hermione, Nico and I were at Diagon Alley. Nico and myself already had everything we needed for school because it was in our trunks, but we had each found a bag in our trunk that was full of coins and never seemed to get empty, so we thought it might be fun to buy some stuff.  
The both of us were in the shop that had animals while everyone else was buying books other school stuff.  
"I want an owl," Nico said and he looked at me. "Can we buy an owl?"  
"Sure," I said with a smile as I thought of Annabeth and how much she loved owls and how it was her mom's scared animal. "Which one do you want?"  
He was walking around for about ten minutes before he walked up to me with a black, gray and white owl sitting on his shoulder.  
"I want this one," he said with the most adorable smile on his face.  
"What are you going to name it?" I asked.  
"What about Mr. Birdy?"  
"I'm surprisingly okay with that," I told him, "but who do you even think we're going to get letters from?" I asked and Nico shrugged.  
"I don't know, we could write to camp. I know that it's across an ocean, but we can always try," Nico said. "You should get one too."  
"Yeah, okay, I've always wanted a pet anyways," I said with a shrug.  
"What about Blackjack? Or Mrs. O'Leary?" Nico asked.  
"You know, I completely forgot about them."  
"Bet Blackjack wouldn't want to hear you say that."  
"Shut up," I said and I looked around for a couple minutes until I found the perfect owl.  
She was a light brown color with a couple grey feathers. I picked up her cage and I walked over to Nico.  
"Meet Wise Girl," I told him with a small smile.


	2. Chapter 2

Nico's POV

We had just boarded the train to Hogwarts. We would've been on here about ten minute earlier if Percy wouldn't've been afraid to run through the wall. I ended carrying him threw because he was being such a baby.  
Sitting in the compartment was myself, Percy, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and boy named Neville, who seemed scared of me.  
"So you guys haven't been sorted into houses yet?" Neville asked, shocked.  
"Nope," Percy said, not going into any more detail.  
"What house do you think you'll be in?" he asked and the three of us shrugged.  
"Well, Percy is brave, so Gryffindor for him, but from what I hear about Slytherin, I seem to fit into that category."  
"Nico, contrary to popular belief, you're not evil," Percy said and I chuckled.  
"You can say whatever you like about me, but you know my Dad, Perce. We all know I'm going to turn out like him."  
"Hazel wasn't like your dad," Percy said and I turned and looked at him.  
"Hazel's not here because of my dad."  
"If it makes you feel better, I'm not like my dad," he said, trying to lighten the mood and I laughed.  
"Percy, you are more like your dad than you will ever know."  
"You don't even know my dad!"  
"When you went missing, I lived at your dads house, with him, for three weeks. Leo built me something so I didn't die while I was there. I got to know your step mom and your stepbrother, and I must say, they aren't that bad. But, then again, they both hate you with every fiber of their being, but you've never really gotten to know them. They both love Tyson, so they may actually like you."  
"Well, Thalia's not like her dad."  
"Thals is controlling, just like him. I don't know her dad well, but what I do know is that he scares me and he's intimidating, just like her."  
"Nico, you're nothing like your dad," Percy said.  
"Really? So I'm not scary, or creepy, or hated, or friendless, or an outcast, or crazy, and I don't do the same things as my dad does?"  
"Well I can tell you one thing," Percy started. "You never forced someone to be your wife," he said and I chuckled and everyone else looked lost because they didn't understand anything that we were talking about.  
"So, what have you heard about the new Defense Against the Dark arts teacher?" Harry said, changing the subject to one that everyone understood.  
"I heard that it's his first year teaching," Ginny said. "Also, he apparently really attractive and really nice."  
"Huh, well, I hope his class is fun."

 

Harry's POV

As we walked up to the horseless carriages, Percy and Nico stopped.  
"What is that?" Percy asked as the walked up to the front of the carriage and stared at something that's about the height of a person, and then he started petting the air.  
"What are you talking about?" I asked.  
"Are you telling me that you can't see these things?" he asked.  
"No," Hermione said and shook her head.  
"It looks like something my dad would have," Nico said and walked over to the front of the carriage and started patting thin air.  
"Hagrid!" I yelled and the large gatekeeper walked over.  
"Hello Harry," Hagrid said. "What seems to be the problem?" he asked and I pointed at the two boys standing by the front of the carriage petting thin air like crazy people.  
"Hagrid," Nico said, "What are these things?"  
"Those are thestrals. Not very many people here can see them."  
"Why not?" I asked.  
"They can only be seen by people who've seen death."  
Percy and Nico both took a step back.  
"My father told me about thestrals," Nico said and he went back so petting the air. "He told me that they were the loneliest creatures alive, because no one can see them, and the people that can are to afraid of them because of their looks."  
"Your right," Hagrid said and then turned to them. "I don't recognize you two. What are your names?"  
"Nico di Angelo."  
"Percy Jackson."  
"You guys aren't first years, so why don't I know you?"  
"We're new," Percy stated, not saying anything else.

 

Nico's POV

The hat had just finished singing and the sorting had begun. Percy and I stood amongst the first years, and we looked seriously out of place because we were at least a foot taller than the rest of the people surrounding us.  
After about five minutes, my name was called.  
"Di Angelo, Nico." As my name was said, the ghosts squealed and they all shot out of the room, which confused practically everyone.  
I walked up to the stool and sat down and Professor McGonagall put the hat on my head.  
"Well, well, well. It's been a long time since I've had one of your kind in my chair," the hat said in my head. "I can see you going into any house, except Hufflepuff. You'd be a terrible Hufflepuff. You lose things to easily and your loyalty is questionable. You're quite bright, so you could go into Ravenclaw, but you seem to be more cunning than bright, so you would do well in Slytherin, especially because who your father is, but your brave. Above all else, you seem to be brave, even though we both know that there's a slight evil in you because of who your father is. As much as I want to put you in Slytherin, I must do what I was instructed by your uncle to do, so, since I don't want to be smited, you're going in Gryffindor!"  
As normal, my table cheered and I slowly walked over and sat down by Ron. As the rest of the names were called, more people joined the table, and Percy ended up sitting by me.  
"Does anybody know why all the ghosts ran off when they say Nico?" Hermione asked and I shook my head and look confused.  
Before I could come up with a reasonable excuse, Professor Dumbledore stood up and walked up to the winged podium and cleared his throat.  
"I have a few announcements make. First off, I would like to welcome you all to another year at Hogwarts. Second, I would like to remind everybody that the Forbidden Forest is, well, forbidden. No student shall go in there unless they would like to end up meeting deadly monsters that would kill you if given the chance," he said, looking right at Percy and I, as if telling us to go into the forest for sword practice.  
"Also, I would like to introduce you to your new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher," he said as the doors to the room opened and a tan, blonde, young man of about twenty five, who I happened to know, walked in. "Everybody, this is Professor Apollo. It's his first year teaching and I expect every one of you to give him a warm welcome." We all clapped and I heard a few people talk about a 'Lockhart' and how 'Professor Apollo better not be anything like him.'  
"But the most important thing happening this year is something that hasn’t taken place in many, many years." As he was talking, he walked over to some really tall thing that was covered with a cloth and then he pulled it off and the giant trophy like thing started on fire. "The Wizard Tournament. Anyone who is a fourth year or above can enter the tournament. You just write your name and house on a piece of paper and stick it into the Goblet of Fire.  
"Two people from each house will be chosen to participate in the five challenges. You must all know this. These challenges don't only test your magical ability. They test your strength, your mind, and your ability to survive, even without magic. You have until September fourteen, which is two weeks from today, to sign up. That day, at dinner, the contestants will be announced. The first challenge takes place on Halloween. I wish you all good luck." With that, he walked back to his seat and sat down.  
Once dinner was over, Percy and I excused ourselves from the group and went over to our cousin.  
"Apollo, what are you doing here?" I asked in a hushed voice and he chuckled.  
"The gods thought that you two would need looking after, so I was picked to watch," he said with a smile.  
"We don't need watched," Percy said.  
"Well, someone was coming no matter what and it was either me or Ares and everyone thought it would be more pleasant for me to come down here."  
"Oh," Percy and I both said in unison.  
"Yes, now little cousins, you need to know this. Nico, you cannot enter, but Percy, you need to enter your name into the Goblet of Fire, and both of you need to make sure Harry Potter puts his name in too."  
"Why?" I asked.  
"Because, in the final challenge, the Goblet of Fire will become a portkey, which means it can basically teleport people. You need to make sure that the three end up touching it at the same time. It will transport you to a graveyard where you'll be able to end their war before it even begins."

 

 

Percy's POV

School had been going for a week now, and I thought that we should finally ask Harry about the tournament.  
"Hey Harry," I said and he looked up from the book her was reading. The five out us were sitting in the Hogwarts common room doing homework.  
"Yeah?"  
"Do you think that you’re going to sign up for the Wizard Tournament?" I asked and he shrugged.  
"I don't know. I was thinking about it, but I was also thinking that if I didn't, then I might finally have a quiet year at Hogwarts."  
"I think you should," Nico said. "You'd definitely win."  
"I don't know..." Harry started, but I cut him off.  
"Don't tell me you're a coward. What, are you afraid?" I asked and that totally changed his attitude. He stood up.  
"How about this," Harry said as he looked at me. "You sign up, I'll sign up, deal?"  
"Of course."

 

 

Nico's POV

Today was the day of the drawing and everyone was freaking out. Some people were regretting putting their names in and some people were wanting nothing else but to have their name picked.  
As we sat at dinner, Percy's legs were bouncing with anticipation because he knew that his name was going to be called. Apollo had only told us about the last task, so Percy was terrified about what the other four might be.  
"Calm down," I said and I put my hand on his knee to stop it from shaking.  
"I can't."  
"Listen to me," I told him as I leaned forward and whispered into his ear. "I promise you that if anything bad happens to you, I'll grab you and we'll shadow travel to Olympus and I'll let you yell at the gods for making us come here."  
"I'm not afraid of something bad happening to me," he whispered back. "I'm afraid that I won't be strong enough to stop something bad from happening to someone else. I mean, the gods made me smaller, weaker and I'm unbalanced and-." I cut him off.  
"Percy, when you were sixteen, you stopped Kronos from taking over the world. Your as strong now you were then and you were strong enough to save the world. Now you have more experience. You'll be okay."  
By the time I had finished talking, Dumbledore had stood up.  
"It's time to find out the challengers! If your name is called, please go into the room behind the main table." He announced and the room went silent as he stuck his hand into the fire.  
"From Hufflepuff, Hannah Abbott!  
"From Ravenclaw, Penelope Clearwater!  
"From Slytherin, Theodore Nott!  
"From Gryffindor, Harry Potter!" Harry sighed and stood up and walked to the room.  
"From Ravenclaw, Cho Chang!  
"From Slytherin, Draco Malfoy!  
"From Hufflepuff, Cedric Diggory!  
"And lastly, from Gryffindor, Percy Jackson!"  
"Good luck," I said to him as he walked to the room where the other seven challengers were waiting.  
*****  
As soon as dinner was over, Fred and George were walking around yelling, "Place your bets! Place your bets on the Wizard Tournament Winner! Maximum bet is 50 gallons!"  
I walked over to them. "Fifty gallons on Percy," I said to them.  
"You seem to have a lot of faith in your friend," George said and Fred wrote it down.  
"Well, Percy never ceases to amaze me."

 

 

Ron's POV

Nico and I were waiting in our room for Harry and Percy to return.  
"What do you think the challenges are?" he asked me and I shrugged.  
"I don't know, I just hope they aren't to dangerous," I said and he chuckled.  
"Whenever Percy is involved, things always end up being dangerous."  
"You know, I've been meaning to ask, how do you know Percy?"  
"Did I hear my name?" Percy asked as he and Harry walked into the room.  
"Yeah Perce, you did," Nico said.  
"I just want to know how you two know each other," I said and Harry glared at me. "Dumbledore told everyone not to pry, but I'm really curious."  
Percy went and sat down by Nico and looked at him. "You want to tell the story?" he asked and a silent understanding happened between them.  
"Sure. It all started about five years ago when Percy found me wondering the streets of Maine. He took me under his wing and gave me a place to live. A place to call home. They became my family. I ran away a few time, but Percy always found me and set me straight. He taught me not to run from my past, but to except it, since it was apart of who I was. After a year or two, my father took me to live with him, but my step mother was such a bitch that I would leave and go back to Percy and his friends."  
"They were your friends too, you do know that Nico," Percy said and Nico shrugged.  
"I know that Hazel was, because, well, you know, and Jason was too, but the others weren't. I was just the creepy kids who wasn't apart of the seven." I was so confused at what he was saying.  
Percy hugged Nico. "You're an idiot! We all loved you! You may not of known it, but we all considered you a friend. I know that Annabeth thought of you like a brother. A distant brother, but a brother none the less."  
I realized that they kept using the past tense. They were, Hazel was, Jason was, the others weren't, loved, considered, Annabeth thought.  
Harry seemed to realize it two.  
"What's with all the past tense?" he asked and Percy and Nico stiffened. "Does this have to do with you guys being about to see the things that was pulling the carriages? Or the scars on you back, Percy?"  
"This is not the time for that conversation," Percy said and pushed himself off Nico's bed and went to his own. "Good night."

 

Percy's POV

I had nightmares that night. Harry's questions seemed to trigger something in my brain that thought it would be a good idea for me to relive the worst moment of my life.

 

"Please, don't hurt her," I said as the man walked over to the unconscious Annabeth. We were both chained on opposite walls were facing across from each other. "Please, you can hurt me, just leave her alone!" I begged, but the man just ignored me and shook Annabeth until she woke up.  
"Wake up child," he said and aggressively shook her shoulder and then he punched her across the face as he shouted, "I said wake up!"  
"Please, stop it!" I yelled as Annabeth's eyes' opened slightly.  
"Oh good, you’re up child," the man said as he took out a knife, "I wanted you to be awake for this part."  
He slowly cut deep gashes as Annabeth wined and I screamed for him to stop, for him to hurt me instead, but he just ignored me and kept cutting into Annabeth.  
"No! Stop! Please! Don't hurt her!"  
Blood was soaking her clothes once again and trailing its way down her body. I could see her eyes start to close.  
"No!" I screamed at her. "Stay awake! You're not allowed to die on me!"  
She gave me a weak smile before she whispered, "I love you, Seaweed Brain," and went limp in her chains.  
"No!" I screamed and the man laughed and turned to me.  
"Now, it's your turn," he said, and pulled a whip from his belt.

 

 

Nico's POV

I woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of someone whimpering. When I sat up, I saw Percy thrashing around in his bed and I threw off my sheets and ran over to him.  
"Percy, wake up," I whispered. "Percy, please wake up, you're having a nightmare." I started shaking him and he started screaming.  
"No! Stop! Please! Don't hurt her!" he yelled and I instantly knew that he was dreaming about Annabeth's death. He kept screaming, 'Please! Stop!" and stuff like that and he woke Harry and Ron up.  
"What's wrong with him?" Harry asked as they ran to my side.  
"He's having a nightmare," I said as I brushed the hair off his forehead. He looked so pained about it and I knew that I couldn't stop it.  
"Wake him up then!" Ron told me and I shook my head.  
"It's useless. He gets these every few weeks. There's no waking him up from them until it's over," I told them as I felt tears in my eyes.  
The man that I loved was reliving the worst day of his life. He refused to talk about it, even after he had moved on from her death. I had to go to Annabeth herself to figure out what happened, and from what she said, it sounded horrible.  
"Do you know what his nightmare is about?" Harry asked and I nodded.  
"Yeah, but it's not my place to speak. I wasn't there, but it's all my fault," I said and my tears started falling. "I could've prevented everything if I had just stopped his fall."  
"Nico, what are you talking about?" Ron asked but I shook my head.  
"Just go away," I told them and they walked out of the room, closing the door behind them.  
After listening to Percy scream for another ten minutes, he woke up sobbing.  
"Annabeth," he cried and I went and sat in his bed and hugged him.  
"It's okay, she's happy now. She doesn't have to worry about anything anymore," I told him as he wrapped his arms around me and sobbed into my chest.  
"I fucking hate dreams," he said and I nodded.  
"I know. They're the Fates way of reminding us that our past is always there and there's now way of getting rid of it."  
"I miss her so much," he cried and I rubbed his back, trying to calm him down. "I just want to die."  
I pushed him away and took his face in my hands. "Percy, look at me," I said to him and tear filled eyes met mine. They were full of pain and sorrow and they hurt to look at, but I did anyways. "You don't want to die. The world needs Percy Jackson to watch out for it. Everyone needs you, Percy. I need you."  
"No you don't," he said and shook his head and dropped eye contact. "Nobody needs me. I've fought my wars and I'm done. I've done enough for everyone." He looked at me again. "Nico, you're not ten years old anymore. You don't need me. You can protect yourself."  
"I don't need you to protect me," I told him. "Listen, Perce, I've lost my mom, Jason and my sisters. I've lost people too, Percy, but you don't stick around for yourself. You stick around for the people that are still alive that need you there. It doesn't matter why they need you, all that matters is that they do."  
"Why do you need me, Nico?" he asked and I sighed.  
"I need you because I care about you," I told him and then pulled him into a hug. We laid down in his bed and I held him until he fell asleep. "Because I love you."

Harry's POV

At breakfast the next day, Percy seemed okay. It was like nothing had happened last night.  
After Nico had kicked us out of the room, Ron and I went to the commons area and talked about what we thought Percy could've possibly been dreaming about.  
Once we had heard his screaming stop, we waiting about thirty minutes before we walked back to room, and when we did, Nico was laying in Percy's bed with him, and Percy had his face on Nico's chest, and Nico had his arms wrapped around him.  
"So, what do you think the first challenge is?" Percy asked me as he took a bite of eggs.  
"I don't know," I replied, "but I'm kind of scared to find out."

 

Nico's POV

Professor Apollo had asked Percy and I to stay after class.  
"What's up, Apollo?" I asked the god.  
"It's about the first challenge," he said, looking at Percy.  
"What is it?"  
He took a deep breath before responding. "Okay, you two need to figure out a way to tell Harry, and you can't say that anyone told you. Say you went into the forest and found out."  
"Found out what?" Percy asked, curiosity in his voice.  
"You have to steal a golden egg from a dragon, using nothing but a wand."  
"What?" Percy asked. "Only a wand?"  
"I'm going to teach you a spell that will allow you to summon things."  
"So I'll be able to summon my sword?" Percy asked and Apollo shook his head and looked at me to explain it to him.  
"Percy, if you use a Celestial Bronze sword, you'll end up turning the dragon to dust. I'm pretty sure that will be really hard to explain to everyone since I'm almost positive that when a witch or wizard kills a monster, it leaves a body."  
"You're correct," Apollo said. "That is why I have made it a point to have a normal sword hanging above my desk since the beginning of the year."


	3. Chapter 3

Nico's POV

 

It had been two weeks since our talk with Apollo and Percy had mastered 'accio,' so he should have no problem getting the egg from the dragon.  
Last week we had told Harry that we had wondered into the Forbidden Forest and saw eight dragons, one for each of the challengers. We hadn't said anything about an egg, but he was already freak out enough at the mention of a dragon.  
Today was the day of the first task.  
All eight challengers were in a tent getting ready for their task, which they were getting told about now.  
Ron, Hermione and I were sitting towards the middle of the stands as Fred and George were walking around taking bets.  
The challengers faced their dragons in the order that their names were called from the Goblet of Fire, and they defeated them different ways.  
Hannah Abbott had said some spell and a rock dropped on the dragons head, knocking it unconscious.  
Penelope Clearwater had used some sort of spell that seemed to temporarily blind the dragon and she grabbed the egg while it was confused.  
Theodore Nott had used about fifteen different spells until the dragon had finally fallen asleep.  
Harry had a very interesting time with his dragon. He had summoned his broom to help him steal the egg, but the dragon had broke it's chain and chased him out of the stadium. He was missing for about ten minutes, but then he flew back in with no dragon chasing him and flew over and grabbed the egg.  
Cho Chang had made a duplicate of herself to distract her dragon as she snuck up to the egg and stole it.  
Draco Malfoy had gotten a very tired dragon, and he no doubt had cheated and had someone drug it, so he practically was able to just walk up and take the egg.  
Cedric Diggory had changed a rock into a dog and he grabbed the egg as the dragon chased after it.  
When it came to be Percy's turn, I had gotten worried.  
"Everybody has been using spells," I thought to myself. "Percy doesn't know that many. What if he can't get the sword?"  
"He'll probably be fine," I heard Apollo say in my head, which didn't reassure me at all.  
As Percy walked out, he waved his wand and said something, but as he was distracted, the dragon had blew a column of fire at Percy that he had barely missed, but his shirt had still caught on fire. He had screamed and pulled the clothing off over his head, and even from where I was sitting, you could see the scars on Percy's body.  
Some people gasped and I saw Hermione's eyes widen as she leaned over to Ron and whispered something about a mark, which I didn't understand, because Percy's body was covered in marks.

 

Percy's POV

As soon as my shirt had been burned, I thought, 'this is it, I'm done for,' but when I pulled my shirt off, I realized that I didn't have any burns. That's when I remembered whole trait of my dads and where I can't get burned, even if lava is thrown at me.  
Once I took my shirt off, people gasped. I wasn't sure why at first, but then I remembered all the dark scars on my body. I decided to ignore everyone, and I started running around the rocked area avoiding the dragon while I waiting for I sword to fly over to me.  
After about a minute, I heard people scream and duck, and I shot my arm out and caught the blade in my hand.  
It was the perfect balance, and it seemed to be a non Celestial Bronze version of Riptide.  
I ran at the dragon, stabbing it at every place I could reach and causing it to shot fire everywhere.  
After a minute of two, I realized that this was one of the largest monsters that I'd ever fought, and what made it so much harder was the fact that it would've turned to dust ten times already if I had the actual Riptide.  
I was starting to grow tired. The monster wasn't dying as easily as I thought it would've.  
As I neared the egg to grab it, the dragon slashed at me, and I dodged most of the talons.  
Most.

 

Nico's POV

I could tell that Percy was tiring out, and I couldn't blame him, he couldn't just stab the monster and have it explode into dust.  
He'd been fighting it for about five minutes when the monster slashed at him, but Percy didn't move away quick enough. Two long slashed went from his left shoulder to right thigh, and he let out a scream and fell to the ground.  
Everyone stood up to get a better look at the dragon and I shoved my way down the stairs to the front row. I was about to jump over the barrier and into the arena when Percy let out an ear-piercing scream.  
The ground started to shake, as if there was an earthquake, but I knew that it was Percy who was causing it. Everyone started to scream and held onto each other for dear life, but I just stood there, staring at Percy.  
The dragon lost it's footing and slipped. A rock seemed to role down and hit it's head, knocking it unconscious.  
Percy's screams died away and the ground stopped shaking. He slowly stood up, sword in hand and made his way over to the dragon. His body was covered in blood and there was even some smeared on his face. Everyone grew silent as he approached the monster.  
"Fucking dragon," he said quietly, but I heard him clearly, and he raised Apollo's sword and stabbed it into the dragon’s side, through its heart, killing it.  
Then he fell to the ground.  
I reacted quicker than everyone else.  
I hopped over the barrier and landed on the ground twenty feet bellow.  
"Apollo!" I screamed as I ran towards Percy. Both of us got there at the same time, and we lifted Percy up and carried him towards the tent. The crowd was silent, processing what they had just witnessed.  
As we laid Percy down on a bed, people started running over to help, but both of us just sent them away. Apollo had told Dumbledore to stand outside of the tent to stop anyone else from entering. When we were alone in the tent, Apollo handed me some Ambrosia and a large vile of Nectar.  
"Wake him up so he can eat that," he said and started cleaning up Percy, muttering things as he healed him.  
"Hey," I said and tapped the side of Percy's face softly, "Wake up. Come one, I know it's painful, but you need to wake up. You're not dying on me, okay?"  
After a minute or two, he opened his eyes slightly.  
"Nico?" he groaned and then coughed up some blood.  
"Yeah," I said as I wiped the blood off him chin and mouth with my hand, "Yeah, I'm here. I need you to drink this," I said and I helped him lift his head enough so I could have him drink the vile of Nectar.  
"Cookies," he muttered and I laughed.  
"Eat this," I said and fed him the Ambrosia.  
"Not cookies," he mumbled and I brushed the hair out of his eyes.  
"How do you feel?" Apollo asked and Percy lightly shook his head.  
"Like a fucking dragon attacked me. I hope the fucking egg is worth it."  
The god and I chuckled.  
"If it makes you feel better, you got third place. Cho Chang got first and Harry got second," Apollo said and Percy smiled.  
"Really?"  
"Yeah, you did great," the god said. "I'm really proud of you little cousin."  
"Am I healed?" he asked.  
"I may be the god of healing, but I'm not a miracle worker, Percy."  
"Come on, Apollo, fix me. Or just throw me in the lake. Either will work."  
I looked at Apollo and he shook his head.  
"I would love to throw you in the lake Percy, but I can't. I have to heal you my way, which is I heal you enough to that you'll live and you'll keep slowly healing so that Madam Pomfrey can think she's fixing you without it getting suspicious."  
"Well then can you fix me faster so I don't feel like my insides are falling out," Percy groaned.  
"Of course," Apollo said and picked Percy up. "Go tell Dumbledore and meet me at the hospital wing."

 

Percy's POV  
When I woke up, I was in the hospital wing. My whole torso and most of my arms were covered in bandages.  
I tried sitting up, but someone stopped me.  
"No, dear, don't sit up," a women in old fashion nursing clothes said to me.  
"Who are you?" I asked and she chuckled.  
"I'm Madam Pomfrey."  
"How long have I been out?" I asked as I rubbed my eyes to get the sleep out of them.  
"Four days."  
"What?" I asked and she nodded.  
"Yes, now I'm going to get Professor Dumbledore and Professor Apollo. You stay right there and do not sit up," she said sternly.  
After a minute, I saw something move in the corner of my eye and I turned my head.  
"Hey Percy," Nico said and stepped out of the shadow. "How are you?"  
"I'm fine," I told him and he chuckled.  
"Perce, don't lie to me," he said with a concerned expression and I sighed.  
"I feel like complete shit," I said honestly and he nodded.  
"You should, I mean, you fought a dragon. I don't think I've ever even seen a real dragon that big before because Clarisse fought a drakon and Fetus was a mechanical dragon."  
"I've never seen one either."  
"Fun fact," Nico said, changing the subject, "When you open the egg, it lets out an ear-killing scream. Oh, and you started an earthquake the other day. The castle wasn't affected, but by the time everyone had gotten out of the stands, they crashed."  
"Are you serious?" I asked and he nodded. "Do people know that it was me?"  
"No," he said as he shook his head. "Dumbledore lied and said that it was just the other dragons getting into a fight, and the dragon people agreed with him."  
"Huh," I mumbled and thought for a second. "So I got third place?"  
"Yeah, Cedric got fourth and everyone else tied for fifth."  
"What do you think the next challenge is?"  
"I don't know, but I bet it has to do with that screaming egg."  
Nico and I heard voices in the hallway.  
"I'll be back in an hour," he said and then faded into the shadows.  
"Percy," Apollo greeted me as he walked in with Dumbledore. "How's my favorite student doing?"  
"To be honest," I said, "I feel like shit."  
"That was a pretty amazing earthquake you stirred up there," he told me with his infamous smile.  
"Yeah, Nico was just here and he told me about it. You blamed it on the other dragons?" I asked as I looked at Dumbledore who just chuckled.  
"People will believe anything that I say."  
"Do you two know how much longer I have to be stuck in here?" I asked and Apollo shrugged.  
"Just until dinner time," he said and he crouched down by me and rested his hands on my chest and some of the pain went away. "How was that?"  
"A lot better," I told him and he nodded.  
"You should be healed completely in a week. You're still going to have a scar, but it should be more faded than the rest. You know, I can heal those if you want me to."  
I shook my head. "No, each one holds a memory that I don't want to lose. There's only one thing I want you to heal," I told him and his smile faltered.  
"Percy, there's a lot that my ability's can do. I can heal any bone and patch any wound, but what you need is something that I can't help you with. You just need to find someone who can do that job for me, because I can't heal a broken heart."

 

 

Nico's POV

I walked into the hospital wing an hour after I had disappeared, carrying some clothes for Percy, and I saw him laying in his cot, holding an opened book in the air over his head.  
"Are you reading?" I asked and he looked away from the book and laughed.  
"Oh gods no. I'm just doing this so people would leave me alone."  
"Does it work?" I asked and he nodded  
"Yeah, surprisingly well," he told me with his adorable smile. "Can you help me sit up?" he asked and I did, then I sat on the bed in front of him.  
"The next challenge is on Thanksgiving. Apparently they don't have Thanksgiving here, but yeah. We were told all the dates of the challenges. The third one is on Valentines day, the fourth is on St. Patties day and the last is one Cinco de Mayo . I don't know why, but they all seem to be on holidays. It's like they don't want us to be happy."  
"It seems to be that a lot of people don't want us to be happy," Percy said and I chuckled.  
After a minute or two, I said, "Can I see where the dragon..."  
"Yeah, sure. The nurse said she'd be back to change my bandages, so you can do it now, if you want."  
"Sure," I told him with a small smile as I unwrapped the gauze. "Oh my god," I said as the final layers came off. "They look terrible."  
"They feel fine and Apollo said that they should be completely healed within a week. He told me that they only look like this because we have to make sure Madam Pomfrey thinks that I'm normal." I laughed at that.  
"You? Normal? Never."  
"Yeah, I know, right?"  
"But seriously," I said as I looked back at his chest and I lightly ran my fingers over the jagged, dark red scars, "How painful was this?"  
He shivered at my touch.  
"It was one of the most painful things that has ever happened to me. The only thing that I can even think of that was more painful was bathing in the River Styx."  
"Really?" I asked and he nodded. "Holy shit, that must've hurt."  
"Nico," he said, looking at me. "The dragon ripped out two fair sized chunks of my body. Of fucking course it was painful."  
I took the gauze that was sitting on the table next to Percy and I started to wrap him up in it.  
"So, when I asked Apollo about the next challenge, he told me that you'd be able to figure it out easily. He said that we don't have to help Harry because another one of the challengers will."  
By the time I'd finished wrapping up Percy, Madam Pomfrey walked in.  
"Oh good, I was just about to do that," she said with a smile and then looked at Percy. "Mr. Jackson, your free to go, but if you feel any pain at all, come back and I'll fix you right up."  
"Thank you Madam Pomfrey," he said and she walked out.  
"Wanna go to dinner?" I asked him and he shrugged.  
"Of course, I haven't ate in four days, why wouldn't I?"

 

 

Harry's POV

As we sat down for dinner, I saw Percy and Nico walk in. Percy had his arm around Nico's shoulder and Nico had his arm around Percy's waist, helping him walk.  
People stared at Percy as he and Nico walked over to the Gryffindor table and sat down by us.  
"Hey guys," Percy said with a small smile. "How have you been?"  
"Worried about you," Hermione said and Percy chuckled and looked at Nico.  
"People always seem to worry about me."  
Nico hit him on his uninjured shoulder. "That's because people care about you, you dumb ass."  
"Well people can care about me without babying me."  
Nico gave him a weird look. After a moment he said. "Really, Perce? Really? You baby me all the time and we both know that I can take care of myself."  
"But I love babying you," Percy said and ruffled Nico's hair, and Nico looked like he was about to kill him.  
"I will kill you," Nico said, glaring at him.  
"No you won't."  
After a few seconds of them staring at each other, I decided to break the silence.  
"So, Percy, how are you feeling?"  
"A lot better than the last time I was conscious."  
"That makes since," I told him and he nodded. The last time he was conscious he literally got torn to shreds.  
"Are you healing nicely?" Hermione asked and Percy nodded.  
"Yeah, but I feel like it taking forever. It still hurts to move and stuff."  
All of a sudden, Professor Apollo walked up.  
"Here," he said and handed Percy a lemon square and a little vile of goldish liquid.  
"Thanks," Percy said and swallowed the liquid. The professor whispered something in Nico's ear and Nico nodded and he walked away.  
"What's that?" I asked Percy.  
"Lemon Square," he responded and when Ron went to take some of it, Percy slapped his hand away and said, "Mine."  
"Percy, I forgot to tell you that Professor Apollo told your mom what happened," Nico said and Percy's eye's widened.  
"Why in fuck would he do that?"  
Nico shrugged. "I don't know, maybe because she's been worried about you since you were twelve and she hasn't heard from you in over a month?"  
"It's not my fault that Dad sent me here without any warning. Oh my gods, she probably freaking out, thinking I'm dead or some shit."  
"Percy," Nico said and put his hand on his friend's shoulder, "It takes a lot more than a dragon to kill you."  
Percy smiled proudly. "I know."  
*****  
"So," I said as we walked into the Common Room, "Have you opened your egg yet?"  
Percy shook his head. "No, I haven't had a chance to."  
"Well, when you open it, you should know that it's loud," Ron said and Nico nodded.  
"Hey Percy, we should go open it," Nico said and the two of them ran up the stairs.  
As soon as they were out of sight, Hermione turned to me.  
"There's something that Ron and I need to talk to you about."  
"What?"  
"We think Percy and Nico might be Death eaters."  
"What! There's no way!"  
"Hermione and I both saw a black mark on Percy's and Nico's wrist. It's in the same place as the Dark Mark."  
I shook my head. "You must've been mistaken."  
"Dumbledore said that they are the two most powerful people we will ever meet, and our magic doesn't work on them. What else could it be?"  
"But, they can't be Death eaters."  
"I guess we'll just have to find out."

 

 

Percy's POV

When Nico and I got to our room, Nico went and pulled the egg from under his bed and handed it to me.  
"Apollo said that you wouldn't have a problem figuring it out."  
I nodded and as I went to open it, Nico covered his ears.  
I listen to the song and I closed the egg once it was over.  
"How did that not murder your ears?" Nico asked and I shrugged.  
"It was just a song. Kind of like a prophecy."  
"What did it say?"

"Come seek us where our voices sound,  
We cannot sing above the ground.  
While you're searching, ponder this,  
We've taken what you'll surely miss.  
An hour long you'll have to look,  
To recover what we've took.  
Past the hour the prospects black.  
To late, its gone, it won't come back."

Apollo suddenly appeared in our room.  
"Sup bitches," he said with his famous smile. "One quick thing. It's about the lake and mermaids. Bye!" Then he disappeared.  
Nico and I stared at each other for a moment.  
"So," he said and chuckled, "I think it's about mermaids."


	4. Chapter 4

Percy's POV

Thanksgiving came around a lot sooner than I thought, and everyone was standing on giant platforms as the eight competitors were getting ready to jump in.  
Apollo walked up to me.  
"You know what you're missing, right?" he asked and I nodded.  
"Nico."  
"Yep. Now, there are going to be seven other people down there, but only get Nico for now, okay?" he asked and I nodded.  
"Okay."  
As soon as the canon went off, I dived into the water and willed myself to get wet.  
It took me about ten minutes to find all the people that were tied up. All I had to do was ask a fish to take me there and he did.  
The place was surrounded by mermaids that looked nothing like the merpeople I had seen while visiting my dad. They were kind of scary looking, but I did nothing about it since they were avoiding me while screaming, "Son of the Sea God, don't hurt us!"  
Since I knew that this was supposed to take an hour, I decided to swim around aimlessly for about thirty minutes, just enjoying being in the water for the first time in months.  
I hadn't gone swimming since I was at the Weasley house and Nico threw me in the lake to heal me.  
Once I felt to presence of another human getting close, I decided that I didn't want to lose this challenge, so I swam up to Nico and broke the vine that was holding him down.  
As I swam up to the surface, I looked down at Ron and the six others, and I saw Draco Malfoy in the distance.  
As we broke the surface, Nico gasped for air and grabbed me and clung to me for dear life.  
"What the fuck happened? And why the fuck am I in a lake?" Nico looked horrified.  
"You're the thing that was taken," I told him as I swam to keep his head above water.  
"Thanks for finding me," he said with a blush and I chuckled.  
"You're welcome, but why are you hugging me?" I asked and he blushed harder. "Nico, can you swim?"  
"Of course I can, I'm just terrified."  
"Okay, well, let's head over to the people who are cheering for me."  
Nico chuckled and let go of me and we swam towards all the people who were yelling.  
When we got to the platforms, I pushed myself up and then I pulled Nico out of the water as people patting me on the back, congratulating me.  
After the other seven people were out, Nico pulled me aside.  
"Penelope Clearwater and Theodore Nott were disqualified."  
"And?" I asked and he glared at me.  
"And that means that there are two people left down there."  
"Oh shit," I said as I headed back to the edge of the platform as people were yelling at me, asking what I was doing. I ignored everyone and I dove into the water.  
After a minute, I reached the two bodies floating in the water.  
"Son of the Sea God, you can't take them," a mermaid said as she about ten others pointed their tridents at me.  
"Try and stop me," I said and glared at them, causing them to swim away in a panic. I chuckled to myself as I broke the vines attached to the boy and girls' legs and I swam up to the surface, pulling them up with me.  
As I broke the surface again, everyone cheered. The three of us swam over and I pulled myself out of the water and Nico jumped on my back, hugging me.  
"You're awesome," he said and kissed me cheek, causing me to chuckle and blush slightly.  
"No, you're awesome for letting me know that they were still down there."  
"A fish would've told you if I didn't."  
"But you did," I said and I turned my head and I pecked his cheek, causing him to hide his face in my neck.  
I walked over to Harry, Ron and Hermione, carrying Nico on my back. They were looking at me, shocked.  
"That was amazing," Hermione said and I just smiled.  
"I can't believe that you went back and got those other two. They weren't even yours to save," Ron said and I shrugged.  
"I tried to bring a first year up with me and Ron, but the merpeople wouldn't let me. How did you do that?" Harry asked and I shrugged again.  
"I don't know," I lied. "I must've gotten lucky."

 

Harry's POV

After the second challenge, we put our plan into action.  
It wasn't that complicated, but we had to make a potion that we know would work.  
Fred, George, Hermione, Ron, Ginny, Nico Percy and myself were sitting in a circle on the floor of the Common Room, and we were the only ones in the room.  
"Okay, to celebrate the end of the second challenge, Ron, Hermione and I have decided that we're going to play a game of Truth or Dare," I said and everyone nodded.  
"And, to make sure everyone is truthful, I've made a truth potion," Hermione said and passed out the vials of orange liquid.  
Everyone took them, but Percy and Nico looked weary about it.  
"Who's going first?" Ginny asked and Ron pulled out a bottle.  
"This game is completely random. The rules are that we're not allowed to leave the room, there is not stripping and there's not kissing to anything like that. I go first." Then he spun the bottle and it landed on George.  
"Truth or Dare?" Ron asked.  
"Dare."  
"I dare you to punch Fred in the face."  
"I'm sorry," George said and punched his twin brother across the face.  
When he spun the bottle, it landed on me.  
"Truth or Dare," George asked me.  
"Truth."  
"Who do you have a crush on?"  
"Cho Change," I answered immediately.  
"Are you going to ask her to the Yule Ball?" Ginny asked and I shook my head.  
"I heard that she's going with Cedric, otherwise I would."  
I spin the bottle and it landed on Percy.  
It was time to get some answers.

 

 

Percy's POV

When Nico and I were given the truth potion, I was concerned about taking it, but a voice spoke it my head.  
"It won't work on you."  
So, I took it, and I felt no difference after swallowing.  
When the bottle landed on me, Harry asked, "Truth or Dare?"  
Since I didn't feel like moving, I said, "Truth."  
"Where did you get all of your scars?" He asked and I tensed up.  
I decided to answer as truthfully as possible.  
"Hell."  
Everyone but Nico looked confused.  
"What do you mean by 'hell'?" Ron asked and I shrugged.  
"I was tortured." They all looked shocked, but I ignored them and spun the bottle. It landed on Nico. "Finally, after five years of knowing you, I get to ask the two questions that I've always been to afraid to ask."  
"I never even said truth!" I gave him a puppy dog look and he groaned. "You only get to ask one." I gave him my look again. "Fine. Ask."  
"Do you still hate me?" I asked and he gave me a confused look.  
"About Bianca?" He asked after a moment or two and I nodded. "No. After I talked to her, I stopped hating you. It wasn't your fault. It just took me a little while to realize that. "  
I let out a sigh of relief. "Okay, and my other question is, when I first met you, you looked familiar. Did we ever meet before that?"  
He blushed slightly and nodded. "Yeah, we met at the Casino."  
"I knew it!" I yelled and Nico laughed and spun the bottle. It landed on Ginny.  
"Truth or Dare?" He asked. It took her a moment to respond because everyone was still in shock about me telling them I was tortured.  
"Truth."  
"Have you ever stole anything?"  
"No, of course not."  
After about five minutes, the bottle landed on me again.  
"Are you and Nico Death eaters?" Ron asked and Fred, George and Ginny gasped.  
"No?" I said in confusion. "I don't even know what that is."  
Harry, Ron and Hermione glared at me and Nico.  
"Then what's the mark on your guy's arms?"  
I looked at Nico and we both pulled up our sleeves, showing our Camp Jupiter marks.  
"What is that?" Ginny asked.  
"Is it burned into your skin?" Hermione asked.  
"What does SPQR mean?"  
"It means Senātus Populusque Rōmānus," I said and they looked at me confused.  
"The Senate and the Roman People," Nico said. "And yes, it's burned into our skin."  
"Where did you get it?" Fred asked and I shrugged.  
"It has to do with our family. We're legacies."

 

 

Percy's POV

I prayed to the gods, asking for a dreamless sleep, but I had no such luck. The game of Truth or Dare triggered something in my mind, and I knew I was going to have nightmares when I went to bed.  
I tried to stay awake to prevent them, but the events of today tired me out more than I realized.  
Soon, I was asleep.

The seven of us were standing by the Doors of Death, trying to figure out a way to close them without one of us getting trapped on the other side forever.  
"I'll do it," Nico said, but I shook my head.  
"That's not happening," I told him. I had just lost the love of my life, I wasn't losing him too.  
While we were all arguing about how I should close them, and people telling me no, Frank was suddenly holding the Doors, about to close them from the inside.  
"Frank don't!" I yelled, but he ignored me.  
"My stick was almost gone anyways," he said and we were all quiet as we watched him. "I love you Hazel," he said, and with that, he slammed the Doors shut.  
"Frank!"

The dream changed.

It was the final battle, and things we looking pretty good. There were only two giants left and the monsters were retreating.  
Well, things we're going well until I heard, "Piper!"  
I turned just in time to see Jason shove Piper out of the way on the giant’s sword.  
But he got hit instead.  
I know his death was quick, because no one could survive what happened to him.  
No one could survive getting cut in half.  
"Jason," Piper yelled and I ran towards her as she ran towards him. I grabbed her and pulled her away from the fight. "Percy, let me go!" she screamed as she started banging on my chest, but I refused to let her go. I knew that she was to distracted by Jason's body and she would end up getting herself killed too.  
I felt her sobbing and I had tears in my eyes too. "Nico!" I yelled and the younger boy ran over, "Shadow travel back to the ship. Take Piper."  
Nico grabbed the sobbing girl and went to the nearest shadow, disappearing and taking the broken hearted girl to safety.

The dream changed again.

Leo, Nico, Hazel, Piper and I were on the ship, flying back to Camp when Nico started to scream.  
"No, Dad, please! She's your daughter! Leave her!"  
Everyone ran towards onto the deck and crowded down by Hazel who was laying on the ground, fading.  
"Nico, we both knew this wasn't going to last," Hazel said and Nico was sobbing, hugging her.  
"But you the only family I have left. I love you."  
"And I love you. Goodbye brother."  
Then she faded away completely and Nico fell to the ground, sobbing.  
Piper was crying, and Leo was holding her, calming her down as he cried himself.  
"Nico," I said as I sat down by him.  
"Go away," he cried but I ignored him.  
I pulled him off of the ground and into my lap, and he kept crying. He clung to my shirt and his head was tucked into my neck, and he sobbed.  
We sat there for hours as I comforted him.

The dream changed again, but this time, it was pitch black, and I heard a voice.  
It was Aphrodite.

"I told you I was going to make your love life complicated."

 

 

Nico's POV

I wasn't able to sleep that night because I was to afraid of having nightmares, and as soon as Percy feel asleep, I knew that he was going to have them.  
I sat on my bed and started playing cards, trying to keep myself awake. After about an hour, I heard Percy start to wine.  
I got out of my bed and walked over to him.  
"Percy, wake up," I told him. "Percy, you need to wake up," I said softly as I shook his shoulder, but he didn't move.  
I sat on the edge on his bed, brushing the hair out of his eyes and off of her forehead, trying to calm him down, and it seemed to be working.  
I wiped his tears off his face as they fell and I kept telling him that it was okay.  
After about an hour, he sat up and gasped. Tears were pour down his face and he let out a sob.  
"It's okay," I told him as I rubbed his back and he pulled me into a hug. "What was it about?"  
"Frank, Jason, Hazel. Them dying."  
I hugged him tightly. "You know that they're all okay and happy now, right?" he nodded. "Then you know that you don't need to cry."  
"Dreams suck," he muttered into my shoulder and I chuckled and nodded.  
"I know."  
"Do you get nightmares?"  
"Yeah."  
"I can't even imagine what yours are about. You went through the Tartarus alone." I nodded. "How often do you get them?"  
"Almost every night," I told him honestly.  
He pulled back from the hug and looked at me. "Why didn't you ever tell me?"  
"Because you have enough on your mind. You don't need to be bothered by me."  
"Neeks, you can never bother me," he said and pulled me back into a hug.  
Eventually, we laid down. My head was on Percy's chest and his arms were wrapped around me.  
"Good night," he whispered.  
"Good night, Percy," I whispered back.  
And for the first time in a long time, I had no dreams while I slept.


	5. Chapter 5

Nico's POV

It was one day until Winter Break and the Yule Ball was later tonight. Yesterday we had finished up all of our classes and so people were just laying around doing nothing.  
Percy and I were laying on my bed talking.  
"So, you have a date yet?" he asked me and I laughed.  
"No, you?"  
He shook his head. "I've been asked by, like, six girls, but I didn't know any of them and I don't want to go to the dance with someone I don't know."  
"They probably just asked you out because your winning the Wizard Tournament."  
"You don't think it's because of my amazingly awesome good looks?"  
I turned my head and studied his face. His messy hair was swept off to the side, his tanned skin was perfect and his eyes made me feel giddy inside. But I wasn't going to tell him that.  
"No, you're not attractive enough for girls to want you for you looks. They probably just want you for you status."  
"Well, do you wanna be my date? I know that you don't want me for my looks, that I do have because I'm incredibly sexy, or my status."  
I blushed slightly and my heart started pounding. "Sure, as long as you're not asking me because of my good looks. You know, I am Italian and all Italians are very attractive."  
"You're the palest Italian that I've ever met."  
"Not fair," I said as I slapped his shoulder. "I spend a lot of my time at my dads, and no matter how much time I spend in the sun, I never seem to be able to tan. And speaking of being tan, how the hell are you able to be so tan when there's snow outside?"  
He chuckled and shrugged. "I don't know. I'm just that amazing." He suddenly sat up. "Oh gods, we don't have anything to wear to the dance."  
I sat up to. "I can shadow travel us to a tux place or something."  
"Or, we can do this," he said and stood up. "Aphrodite, Nico and I really need your help with finding the right outfit."  
"Do you really think that's going to work?" I asked and before he could respond, Aphrodite was suddenly in the room, and she looked giddy.  
"Oh my gods," she said with the biggest smile I've ever seen and she was practically shaking. "I can't believe this is finally happening! Percy, you never ask me for help. Okay, Nico, Percy, stand by each other."  
I got of the bed and stood by Percy and Aphrodite waved her hand.  
"Okay, how do you look?" she asked and a giant mirror appeared in front of us. Percy and I walked forward to inspect ourselves.  
Percy and I were each in a three-piece black suit, and the only difference was that Percy was wearing a red tie, and I was wearing a red bow tie. Then I notice something.  
"Aphrodite, am I wearing eye liner?" She chuckled and nodded.  
"Yes you are. It really makes your eyes pop."  
"Am I able to take it off?" I asked and she shook her head.  
"No, but it'll be gone tomorrow, and I only put a little on so it's not super noticeable. And don't worry, you both look incredibly attractive."  
"Thank you," Percy and I said at the same time.  
"Now, promise me something."  
"What?" I asked and she chuckled.  
"Use protection." Then she and the mirror disappeared.  
Percy and I were both blushing, then I heard a small 'pop' and I saw something appear on my nightstand.  
"Percy, don't turn around."  
"What?" he asked and started turning around, but I stopped him.  
"Don't turn around." When he didn't move, I walked over to my nightstand and grabbed the condoms and lube and walked over to the window, opened it, and through them out.  
Percy walked over as I shut the window. "Was that what I think it was?" he asked and I blushed harder and nodded. "Wow, she just assumes things, doesn't she?"  
"She's the goddess of love, of course she does."  
There was another small 'pop', but this time, it came from Percy's nightstand. Percy walked over and opened a drawer. "Seriously Aphrodite?" he asked and a note floated down from the ceiling and I caught it. "What does it say?"  
"Yes, and no matter how many time you try and get rid of it, it'll keep appearing. It's always good to be prepared in case something happens in the spur of the moment, winkie face."  
Percy picked up the thing of lube. "Oh my gods."  
"What?" I asked and he showed me it.  
"It's strawberry flavored."  
"What? Oh my god."  
Another note floated down and Percy caught it. "You both like strawberries."  
"Is there anything else that you would like to send us?"  
Two pieces of paper floated down from the ceiling and we each grabbed the one closer to us.  
It was pamphlet on gay sex.  
"That was a rhetorical question!"

 

 

Percy's POV

As Nico and I walked down to the dinning area where the dance was at, Professor McGonagall stopped me. "Are you ready?" she asked.  
"Ready for what?"  
"To dance. All the contestants are the first to dance." Nico and my eyes widened. "Oh, I didn't tell you. Well, wait outside the doors, I have to tell Potter." Then she rushed off.  
"We have to dance?" he asked and I nodded. "In front of people?" I nodded again and he looked scared.  
"Neeks," I said and put my hands on his shoulders, "You've fought monsters. That's not ever close to as scary as dancing in front of people."  
"I beg to differ."  
Harry suddenly walked up with a girl on his arm.  
"We have to dance," he said and I nodded.  
"McGonagall just told us."  
"Who's you're date?" the girl asked and I put my arm around Nico's shoulder.  
"Mr. Di Angelo here," I said and Nico blushed.  
"Really?" Harry asked and I nodded.  
"Yep. I asked him earlier and he said yes."  
"You quilted me into saying yes."  
"Lies!" I yelled and Nico chuckled.  
"You think what you want."  
Nico and I bickered for about ten minutes, and then McGonagall came and sent all the competitors into the middle of the room to dance.  
People stared at Nico and I as we walked in with my arm around his shoulder.  
"I can't dance," I whispered to him and he chuckled.  
"Follow my lead."  
"I thought you were scared?" I asked and he chuckled again.  
"I may be scared, but at least I'm not a loser who can't dance."  
I smacked the back of his head, and before either of us could say anything else, the music started.

 

Nico's POV

It had been about an hour since the dance had begun, and Percy and I were slow dancing.  
I was beyond happy. I was dancing with my crush, and he seemed happy about it.  
"So, you having fun?" I asked Percy and he nodded.  
"Yeah, I've never been to a dance before."  
"That's a lie," I told him and he looked confused. "When you, Annabeth and Thalia came to get Bianca and I, you went to the dance."  
"I remember that," Percy said and chuckled. "You were such a little kid then. You loved Myth-o-Magic and you were tan."  
"Yeah, but I've grown up a lot since then."  
"I know, but you're not tan anymore." He glared at me. "When was the last time you played Myth-o-Magic? Be honest"  
"About five years ago," I lied.  
"You're lying."  
"What do you mean?"  
"I know that you and Leo play it all the time. I've seen you."  
"What?"  
"Yeah, but I never said anything because I didn't want to embarrass you. You always looked happy when you played."  
"That's because I was. It felt like it was before I found out that all the things in the game were real."  
"I remember when I told you that my dad was Poseidon."  
"Yeah," I said and blushed slightly. "I asked you if you could surf really well."  
"I still haven't tried."  
"But you probably can. I mean, you dad is Poseidon and all."  
"How about this. Come summer, you and I go surfing."  
"Deal."  
"Now that we have that settled, do you want to stay here for break or go back to camp?"  
"I say we go and visit your mom first. I've been writing her letters because you're to lazy too."  
"Really?" he asked and I nodded.  
"Yeah, she's been really worried about you since that dragon attack."  
"She shouldn't be."  
"But she is. How about once this dance is over, we go visit your mom. The dance gets over at midnight so it should be about four in the afternoon there."  
"That seems like a good idea."

 

Percy's POV

Harry and Ron didn't seem to be having as much fun as we were. Whenever Harry would dance with his date, be would stare right at her at Cho Chang, who was dancing with Cedric.  
Ron was doing the same thing, except he was staring at his brothers date, I couldn't tell which twin it was as they both looked the same from behind, Hermione. Ron was staring at Hermione.  
Shocking, right?!?  
Okay, it wasn't really that shocking, you could tell they liked each other, everyone knew it except the Golden Trio. No one really said anything about it though, because, apparently they were most peoples OTP, whatever that meant.  
Piper had tried to explain it to me during the Prophecy of the Seven because Leo and Hazel kept talking about 'shipping' Annabeth and I together, and how we were their 'OTP'.  
I found it sweet that they liked Annabeth and I together, but I found it more creepy when I learned that Jason 'shipped' me with someone other than Annabeth. I never knew who it was with, but I guess that secret died with him.  
My eyes started to tear up at the thought of Jason. Cut in half. Dead.  
"Perce, what's wrong?" Nico asked as we slow danced.  
I shook my head. "Just thinking about Jason."  
Of course, Nico's response had to be sarcastic to cheer me up. "Oh, I see how it is," he said as he removed his from my neck, "thinking about another guy while I'm dancing with you." He playfully shoved me away, but it didn't seem playful to others, it seemed violent and it got to there attention. He decided to raise his voice to make this more dramatic.  
"I thought we had something special!" He yelled and I chuckled. Some people gasped at what he said.  
"We did Neeks, we did. But not anymore. I'm engaged to someone else, okay!"  
Nico seemed to get my hint about what was happening and I saw him huff angrily to cover up a smile. Frozen was, of course, our favorite movie. Leo was the one who showed it to us.  
"Well maybe you're just a fixer-upper. Maybe you've got a few flaws."  
"I do."  
"Like this quote engagement has to be a flex arrangement."  
"You're right,” I told him, nodding. "I don't have a ring."  
"We just need to get you're fiancé out of the way, and this whole thing will be fixed."  
I nodded again at what he said. "But don't think you can change me."  
"Of course not dear, I don't think I can change you, because people don't really change. Love's a powerful force that's-," Nico was cut off by a voice of a person that definitely didn't get the joke of this event.  
"Who let the gays in here."  
Nico and I both stopped and turned at a boy I didn't recognize.  
"The fuck did you just say?" I asked him. The guy's eyes went wide in dread, but he repeated himself, which was brave of him to do because Neeks and I were both pissed.  
"I said 'Who let the gays in here'."  
"That's what I thought." Nico said, you could particle see the anger rolling off of him.  
I looked at Nico and he looked at me, he seemed a little scared at how angry I was, and if Nico was scared, that guy must be about to piss himself, which was good. I had no tolerance for this bullshit.  
After a moment, I grabbed the guy and pulled his ear to my lips. "You should be praying the gods that I've decided not to beat the fucking shit out of you, and you know I could. You saw me kill that dragon, and it wasn't the first thing I killed. You even think something bad about non-straight people in my presence, I'll make sure to send flowers to your funeral.  
"Anyways, psychological torture is worse than physical torture. Just remember that one day, I will beat the living shit out of you. Not today, not tomorrow, but eventually, I'll break every rib, every bone, I'll cut off your hand, and dislocate every bone in your body. Just remember that." I let go of his shirt and tossed him to the floor. "It wouldn't be the first time I did that to someone."  
"Oh, and one more thing," I added before I pulled Nico towards me, "I have no tolerance for homophobic assholes, because you're not homophobic, if you were," I took Nico's face in my hands and genteelly kissed his lips, "that would scare you! You aren't homophobic, you're just assholes. You have a problem with people be gay, pan or whatever, you come to me!" I turned towards a blushing Nico and took his hand in mine. "Let's go," I told him and we headed out of the dance, and Shadow Traveled as soon as we turned the corner.  
My lips still tingling from the kiss.  
"Oh gods," I though to myself, "what have I gotten myself into."


	6. Chapter 6

Percy's POV

The next thing I knew, we were standing outside of my mom’s apartment. I knocked on the door and we waited a mew moments before it opened.  
"Percy!" Mom yelled and pulled me into a hug. "I've missed you!" Then she saw Nico and pulled him into the hug too. He seemed to still be blushing from what happened at the dance. "Thank you for letting me know what's been going on with Percy, since he never writes me." Mom glared at me and I tired to ignore it.  
"You're welcome Mrs. Sally."  
"Come on," Mom said as she let go of us. "I was just about to put cookies into the oven."  
As we followed Mom into the apartment, Paul walked over and gave Nico and I a hug.  
"It's been a while since I've seen either of you," he said and let go. "Now, why are you two dressed so nicely?"  
"We had a school dance," Nico said and I nodded.  
"Yeah, Nico was my date."  
Paul nodded. "Did you guys have fun?"  
Neeks and I shared a look and we decided that we wouldn't tell them about me almost killing that dumbass.  
"Yeah," I said as Nico said, "It was awesome!"  
The three of us walked into the kitchen and sat at the table with Mom.  
"So, are you enjoying school?" she asked and we nodded.  
"Yeah, I haven't destroyed anything yet," I said.  
"Yes you have. You destroyed the stadiums with an earthquake," Nico reminded.  
"That wasn't my fault."  
"Did you cause the earthquake?" Nico asked and I nodded. "Then it was your fault."  
"When did this happen?" Mom asked and I shrugged.  
"It was when I was attacked by the dragon. But you don't have to worry. Apollo was there and he healed me."  
"Do you have a scar?" she asked and I nodded. "Can I see it?"  
I took off my jacket and unbuttoned my vest and then pulled my shirt up.  
"Oh my gods," she said and I pulled my shirt down. "You could've died."  
"I was never in any real danger of dying, Mom. I had the god of healing and Nico there."  
"There's no need to worry, Mrs. Sally. There was a lake nearby, so even if Apollo wasn't there, I would've taken good care of him," Nico said and gave Mom one of his rare smiles.  
"You've always taken good care of Percy," Mom said and he nodded. "Wait, Percy, why do you look younger?"  
"The gods made me look fifteen so I could fit in better. It's only temporary...I hope." She nodded.  
The four of us continued talking, and when the cookies were done, Nico and I shoveled them into our mouths and swallowed them down with milk.  
"I really missed your cookies, " I told Mom and she chuckled.  
"So do I," Nico added and Mom chuckled again.  
"Just be careful, getting torn apart might not kill you but chocking might," she said as she walked out of the room.  
Nico and I shared a look, before we started laughing.  
"The mighty Percy Jackson, taken down by a cookie. That would be one for the history books."

 

 

Nico's POV

After we woke up and ate breakfast, we told Mrs. Sally and Paul goodbye and I shadow traveled Percy and I to camp.  
I sort of got the landing location a little wrong. We were supposed to end up in Percy's cabin, but we landed in the pavilion on the Hermes table.  
"AHHH!" Connor screamed as I appeared on top of his eggs.  
"Dude! You're standing on my food!" Travis yelled at Percy.  
Some of the campers who had jumped up at our sudden arrival were putting away their weapons, except Clarisse.  
"What's wrong with your face, Prissy?  
"What do you mean?" Percy asked, kind of offended.  
"You look... weird."  
Percy and I jumped off the table. "Zeus made me look younger. It's for a quest." Clarisse shrugged and went back to eating.  
Leo ran up and tackled Percy and I. "I've missed you two so much! What's your quest? Have you guys been having fun?"  
"Yeah, it been fun, but I don't know how much we can actually tell you," I said and he nodded.  
"How long are you guys staying?" Piper asked as she walked over.  
"We have to be gone by January third, so two weeks."  
"Whose team do you want to be on in capture the flag tomorrow? Remember, only one child of the Big Three per team."  
"That's a stupid rule," I said and Percy nodded.  
"Well, it makes it fair. If you were both on the same team, you would dominate," Piper said and Percy looked like he couldn't care less.  
"How about we change things up a little bit. Nico and I against the rest of the camp."  
Clarisse, who seemed to be listening in on the conversation jumped up. "Done."  
Everyone else starting paying attention now. Malcolm walked up to us from the Athena table. "That's a great idea." He looked at Chiron. " Poseidon and Hades cabin against everyone else. You okay with that?"  
Chiron nodded and smiled. "Of course, as long as everyone else is." I looked around and everyone was nodding.  
"It's on."

 

Percy's POV

Nico was laying on the bunk above mine in my cabin.  
"How are we going to beat over a hundred people in capture the flag?" he asked me, and I shrugged even though I know he couldn't seem me.  
"I'm not sure, but I have an idea. How good are you at moving rocks like Hazel was?"  
"I can do it. I'm not as good as Hazel was, but whenever I visit the Underworld, she teaches me."  
"Good, I know exactly what we're going to do. Follow me," I said as I got off my bunk and walked out of my cabin, Nico following right behind me.  
"Where are we going?" he asked as he caught up.  
"To set everything up for tomorrow, of course."  
Once we were far enough in the woods, I looked at him. "Can you make a rock appear that's about twenty feet high with steep sides?" I asked and he looked at me like I was crazy.  
"I can, but I'll pass out and you'll have to carry me back to camp."  
I thought about it, weighing the pros and cons. Pro: We're going to kick ass at Capture the Flag. Con: I have to carry a 120 lbs. boy a quarter of a mile to the infirmary.   
"Okay."  
He put his hands out in front of him and focused on the ground. Things started to shake and Nico started to sweat. After about a minutes, the ground cracked and a two foot wide rock shot from the ground and went about twenty feet up in the air. The sides were steep, and it looked nearly impossible to clime.  
I ran over to Nico and I caught him right before he hit the ground. I tossed him over my shoulder and headed to the infirmary.  
"What happened!" Will yelled as I laid him in one of the cots. He was unconscious.  
I looked at him and smiled. "You'll see tomorrow."

 

 

Nico's POV

I woke up to someone slapping me across the face. "The fuck was that for?" I asked as I opened my eyes.  
"The game starts in an hour and it's time for dinner."  
I sat up as I processed what he had just said. "I've been out for over a day?" Percy nodded.  
"But it'll be worth it, I promise. We're going to beat everyone. It'll be one for the Camp Half Blood history books."  
After dinner, everyone was putting their armor on as Chiron started his normal speech. "Blue team is the Poseidon and Hades cabin. Red team is everyone else. You know the rules. The creek is the boundary line. The entire forest is fair game. All magic items are allowed. The banner most be prominently displayed, and have no more than two guards. Prisoners may be disarmed, but may not be bound of gagged. No killing or maiming is allowed. I will serve as referee and battlefield medic. Arm yourselves!"  
All the weapons appeared and everyone except Percy and I grabbed weapons. I already had my sword and Percy had his pen. Percy grabbed our flag from Chiron, which was blue with waves and a skull and crossbones on it, and Clarisse grabbed the red one with a boars head on it.  
"Get ready, go!" The red team ran out into the woods to get ready and hide their flag. I grabbed Percy's arm and shadow traveled us to the boulder that I has made yesterday.  
"Man, I'm impressive," I said when I saw my work, and Percy laughed.  
"You would've been a lot more impressive if you hadn't passed out." I hit the back of his head.  
"It's not my fault, now what's the plan. I passed out before you could tell me."  
"This."

 

 

Clarisse's POV

As we ran into the woods, everyone went to their posts. The Athena cabin was placing the flag on Zeus's Fist, the Apollo and Hermes cabin were our fastest runners, so they were going for the flag, the Nemesis cabin was protecting them. The Aphrodite, Dionysus, Demeter and Hecate cabins were defending the area between the river and the flag, and everyone else was at the river because we knew that's where Percy was the most powerful.  
"Leo!" I called to the fire user. "You ready?" He nodded and set his machine down in the creek. "You sure this is going to work?"  
"I didn't have time to test it! I only had a day to build it!" he pulled a remote out of his pocket and pressed the button on it. His machine started to expand, getting wider and a lot longer. It was covering the creek, hopefully preventing Percy from getting the water from it.  
Then, the conch horn blew.  
Lets the games begin.

 

Nico's POV  
Percy stretched his hand out towards the creek, and a looked confused.  
"What's wrong?" I asked and he shook his head.  
"I-I don't know. Something is preventing me from getting to the water."  
"Well, how much do you need the water for you plan?"  
"I was going to cover the rock and the flag in a crap load of water, so they could see the flag, but not get to it."  
"Couldn't you just pull the water from the air?" He nodded and started making a swirling motion with his hands, and water started appearing between them, and the air started getting dryer.  
He stopped once the conch horn blew, signaling the start of the game.  
"What are we going to do?" I asked him.  
"You defend this place, I'm taking my thing of water and finding out what they did to the river. I'll get the flag." Then, he ran off.

 

 

Percy's POV

I'd gotten about ten gallons of water from the air, it wasn't a lot, but it was better than nothing, I pulled out my sword as I ran towards the river, ready to fight off anyone in my way. It was about a minutes until I saw anyone, and when I did, it was thirty campers charging at me. The Apollo cabin starting shooting arrows at me, which I hit away with either my sword or my thing of water, and the Hermes and Nemesis cabin ran right past me, probably towards Nico and the flag.  
I shot my hand out, sending my ten gallons of water towards the Apollo's cabins feet, knocking them all to the ground. Once they were all down, I ran past them, jumping over them, heading to the river.  
When I got there, I saw something I wasn't expecting. Yes, I was expecting half the camp to be waiting there for me, but I wasn't expecting something to be covering the creek, blocking my access to the water.  
Everyone was staring at me, waiting for my move, so I did something they were expecting.  
"You think this is going to work?" I asked and Leo laughed.  
"Well, I don't see you wielding your water, so I think it's already worked."  
"Leo, I don't need water to beat you guys."  
"It's seventy five against one," Clarisse called and it was my turn to laugh.  
My hand shot forward, towards the covered creek that was fifteen feet in front of me. Now that I was closer, I could control it. I felt a familiar tug in my gut, and the cover broke.

 

Nico's POV

I was guarding the flag without Percy for about three minutes when the Hermes and Nemesis cabin ran into the clearing. I had about fifty dead soldiers with me, so we outnumbered them almost two-to-one. Every time one of my soldiers went down, I raised two more. I joined the fighting, knocking out the campers. Not long after, the Apollo cabin joined, but my soldiers held them off easy enough.

 

Leo's POV

Once the river exploded, we knew we were done for. Percy might look younger than he normally was, but he was as powerful as ever. All he had to do was send a wave towards us, pushing us all out of his way, holding us in place.  
"I thought you said you didn't need water?" I yelled.  
"I don't, but using it is a lot easier and makes less of a mess." Then he ran off to the flag.  
"You said this would work," Clarisse said from next to me, as we were stuck in a wave, not moving.  
"I said that I didn't have time to test it. It was only a prototype."  
No less than five minutes later, we saw a group of people running from the opposite side of the creek, chased by an army of the undead, and an angry looking Nico.  
We all started cheering, but it was short lived. Right before Will was about to jump over the creek, a wave shoved him back down, and Percy came running up, jumping over the creek, winning the game.  
The red flag changed to blue with a skull and crossbones, and the horn blew, ending the game.  
As we groaned, Nico and Percy cheered. Nico jumped on Percy's back and gave him a celebratory kiss on the cheek. The way they were acting was adorable. Ever since Jason told me about Nico's crush on Percy (I tricked him into telling me) I started shipping Percico more than Percabeth.  
Chiron cleared his throat. "Percy."  
"Yes?" he looked at us campers, stuck in a wave. "Oh." The wave disappeared, sending all of us falling to the ground.

 

Percy's POV

The flames were tall and bright yellow at the bond fire that night, and everyone was having a blast. Even though they had been beaten by Nico and I, everyone had fun, and no one was mad at me for drenching everyone in water. After the game I had dried everyone off. We were all singing along to the songs, eating s'mores and talking.  
"Nico, how did they get passed you?" I asked him and he shrugged.  
"Will sent a punching arrow at me when my back was turned and it knocked me out for a few moments, which was enough time for them to climb the rock, steal the flag and run."  
"Are you okay?"  
He nodded. "Yeah, my head hurts a little, but I'm fine. I heard what Leo did with the river."  
"I wasn't expecting that. I didn't even know that they could do that!"  
"You know better than to underestimate Leo."  
"I know, but seriously? Covering the river? How did they even do that? The worst part is, it worked. Well, it worked for the most part."  
"You'll need to be prepared for that again next week. I over heard Leo talking and apparently he put that together in a day. With another week, it'll probably work perfectly."  
"Well, then I guess I'll be siding with the Cabin Nine from now on."  
Nico chuckled. "I wonder what Harry and all of them are doing. They're probably confused with our sudden disappearance."  
"I wouldn't worry about it. Apollo probably came up with a good excuse."


	7. Chapter 7

Harry's POV

"Percy's engaged?" I said once Percy and Nico had disappeared from the dance.  
"They were quoting a muggle movie," Hermione told us and I nodded, still confused.  
"Did Percy kiss Nico?" Ron asked, shocked.  
"I think so," I said.  
"I'm so confused," Ron said and I nodded.  
"Me too."  
The three of us went to catch up with Nico and Percy to get some answers, but we couldn't find them.  
"Where did they go?" Hermione asked. We looked around, but they were nowhere to be seen.  
"They went home," someone said from behind us. It was Professor Apollo.  
"But how? They just walked out. The train isn't even here," Hermione said.  
Professor Apollo just stood there, thinking of an answer. Apparently he couldn't think of anything because he turned around and walked away.  
"That was...weird?" Ron said and we nodded.  
"So, what movie did they quote? I didn't recognize it," I asked, changing the topic. We could always ask Percy and Nico about where they went when they got back from break.  
"Frozen. It's a movie for children."  
"Oh," Ron said and nodded, "They would like a kids movie."


	8. Chapter 8

Piper's POV

"What do you think Percy's and Nico's quest is about? I over heard them talking about some guy named Harry, but that's it. Any idea as to what their doing?" Leo asked as he worked on some weird project. I was keeping him company in Bunker Nine.  
I shook my head. "Nope, but they seem to be enjoying the time off."  
"Do they seem different to you?" Leo asked as he tightened some screws.  
"Well, yeah. Percy looks younger." He shook is head.  
"No, not like that. I mean, do they seem to be acting differently. Like, with each other?"  
I thought about it. Over the week that they had been back at camp, they had been acting a little different around each other. On more than one occasion I had seen Percy leaving the Hades cabin the middle of the night. Nico also changed his activity schedule to match Percy's, and throughout the day, they are always together. They've even started sitting with each other during meal times. When I asked about it, Percy said that they were talking about their quest.  
"Yeah, they have. They're always together now."  
"I asked Percy about it. He said that over the past four months, he's grown used to constantly being with Nico."  
"Do you think they like each other," I asked and Leo rolled his eyes.  
"That is such an Aphrodite's child thing to say." I slapped the back of his head and he chuckled. "Well it's true." This time, I rolled my eyes.  
"Well, I am one of Aphrodite's children. But I'm serious. It would make since."  
Leo rubbed the back of his head where I hit him. "I mean, yeah, maybe. If I told you something do you promise you won't tell anyone? Especially any of your siblings?"  
This made me curious. "Yeah of course I promise. What is it?"  
"When we were still on the Argo II, Jason told me something that Nico said."  
"What is it?" I pressed, wanting to know anything new that my passed boyfriend had said.  
"He said that Nico admitted to having a crush on Percy. I don't know if he still does, but he had a crush on him once upon time."  
My eyes widened. "Are you serious? This is amazing! We could totally set them up and they would be so cute together! Why didn't Jason tell me this?"  
"Probably because he knew that you would get all giddy and try and set them up. I'm not a love expert like a child of Aphrodite, but I'm pretty sure we can't just make two people start dating."  
I thought about that for a second. "Well then we wouldn't make them start dating. We could just plant the idea in their heads and set up cute situations for them. If they want it to turn romantic, they can. We won't force them into anything, we'll just give them a gentle push."  
Leo nodded. "Okay, but we don't even know if Percy is gay or bi or whatever."  
"That's not that hard to find out."  
"How do we find out then?"  
"We tell my cabin. They can help."  
"Piper! What did I literally just say two minutes ago!"  
I just shrugged and started walking towards the bunker door.  
"I don't care! I'm breaking my promise because something’s are just more important."  
"Like what?"  
"Love."


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (The Weasley's brother Percy is irreverent in this story)

Ron's POV

"Okay, so I know we cleared all the suspicions of Percy and Nico being Death eaters, but you guys have to admit that there is something seriously weird about them," I said as we sat around in the dormitory. The only people in Gryffindor that were still here were Fred, George, Ginny, Harry, Hermione and Neville.   
"Thank you!" Hermione said. "I knew I couldn't be the only one. I mean, it even the little things. Their posture, Nico's wand that seems to be made of some type of metal instead of wood, and especially the fact that Dumbledore said that they were more powerful than himself and You Know Who. Like, they can barely cast proper spells! How can they possibly be more powerful than Dumbledore?"  
"Dumbledore also said that they would be a powerful ally in the war against Voldemort, but how are they supposed to help when they know next to nothing when it comes to magic!" Harry added.  
"They might not know that much magic, but don't forget the fact that Percy killed a dragon by himself," Fred said.  
"But why would he kill it?" Ginny asked. "Of all the things he could've done, why did he have to kill it. Think about it, the dragon was already unconscious. He could've hade just left it at that, but he didn't. He killed it out of pure spite."  
"In Percy's defense," George butted in, "That dragon almost killed him. If I was him, I would've killed it too."  
"Remember when it burned off Percy's shirt? He didn't get burned," I added. "And his scars. He said he got them in Hell. That he was tortured. Who would torture a fifteen year old?"  
"Think about it," Hermione said. "We gave them a truth potion. Percy said hell, and even though that might be what he considered it, it wasn't the truth. He would've had to say where or how, and unless he was psychically in hell, he wasn't telling the truth. Maybe him and Nico are as powerful as Dumbledore said. Maybe they were powerful enough to not be affected by the truth potion."  
We were all silent as we thought about that.  
"Well, that would mean that they could've lied about not being Death Eaters," Neville whispered, speaking for the first time since I brought up this topic.  
"We need to talk to Dumbledore."  
We all got up and walked out of the common room. After a few minutes, all of us were standing outside of the Headmasters office and Harry knocked at the door.  
"Come in," Dumbledore called and we all walked in.  
"We need to talk about the exchange students," I stated and Dumbledore signed.  
"I know that you guys are skeptical off them, but don't over think the things that they do."  
"But Professor, we think that they might be Death Eaters," Hermione said and he just shook his head.  
"I can tell you for a fact that Nico and Percy are not Death Eaters."  
"Even if they're not, how did they resist a truth potion?" Ginny asked and Dumbledore looked confused.  
"When did you give them a truth potion?" We all looked awkwardly at each other. "You know what, it doesn't even matter. I'm not the one who you should be talking to, and since I know that you guys aren't patient enough to wait till their break is over to ask Percy and Nico themselves, go talk to Professor Apollo. He should be able to answer any of your questions, just do me one favor. Don't treat Percy or Nico any differently after whatever Apollo says. There are on our side, and we need them to stay that way, so please don't ask either of them how they got their scars, or anything about their pasts."  
"Why not?"  
"Go talk to Professor Apollo."

 

 

Apollo's POV

I was sitting in my house having my immortal children grade the wizard's tests when I had the feeling I needed to be at Hogwarts, so I flashed to my desk, and there was a knock at my door.  
"Come in," I said and the Weasley's, Harry, Hermione and Neville walked in. "Hello, are you Gryffindors' enjoying your break?"  
"Yeah, but we have a few questions for you," Hermione said. I knew this was coming. The so-called 'golden trio' were a bunch of nosey, annoying kids who needed to learn to mind their own business.  
I stood up and walked to the front of my desk and sat on it. "What about?"  
"Percy and Nico," Harry said and I resisted the urge to roll my eyes.  
"Or course, ask away."  
"How are they more powerful than Dumbledore?"  
"They are from very powerful bloodlines," I answered.  
"What bloodlines? Where are they from? Where did they learn magic?"  
"They are from New York. Well, Nico's originally from Italy, then he lived in Las Vegas for a little while, then Maine were he met Percy, then New York. He sometimes lives in Los Angeles with his father. They learned magic at Salem, which is one of the only schools in the United States." I had thought of what to say for most of the basic questions because I knew this was going to happen.  
"What about their bloodlines?" Fred asked. I didn't know what to say, so I shrugged.  
"All I really know is that those two are the most powerful students from their school. They were sent here to help."  
"Help with the war against Voldemort?" Harry asked and I nodded.  
"If they're here to help then why don't they know that much magic?"  
I chuckled. "Oh, but they do. They just know a different type of magic."  
"What do you mean?"  
"We'll come back to that because that explanation is lengthy. So, next question."  
"Why weren't they affected by the truth potion?"  
"We'll come back to that also. Next question."  
"Why did Percy kill the dragon?" Ginny asked.  
I thought about my answer for a second. "The dragon hurt Percy, so Percy killed it. You remember what Winston said to Percy at the ball and how Percy threatened him? I'm surprised that he didn't try to kill him then and there. Where Percy and Nico are from, when you have a problem with someone, you fight them."  
"That's violent," Ron muttered and I chuckled.  
"It sure is."  
"Is that how he knows how to use a sword?" I nodded.  
"Is that why he has scars? Because he said that he was tortured."  
"Some of the scars came from fights, but yes, he was tortured. Salem had a war last year. Only specific bloodlines are able to go to Salem, and when there's a war, it's between the school and their enemy, so that's why you guys never heard about it. The enemy captured Percy with his girlfriend, who never made it out. Nico was captured by himself. They had significant losses. Nico lost his sister, Percy lost his girlfriend and they lost too many friends to count. If you value they're sanity, don't ask them about their scars."  
"Is that why Percy has nightmares? Because he was kidnapped?"  
"Yes."  
Harry then said something I wasn't expecting. "Sometimes when one of them has a nightmare, they share the same bed and they seem to get really cuddly, so...are they gay together? They went to the ball together and they kissed, but you said Percy has a girlfriend who died."  
I thought for a second. I am the god of prophecy, and I could see them getting together, but I always thought Nico had a thing for my son, Will, but maybe they were just close friends. "I don't know the answer to that, and I hate not knowing the answer to things. Next question."  
"Where did they go after the ball?" Hermione asked. "You said that they went home, but when we asked you how, you just walked away."  
"That will be explained when I talk about their type of magic. Next question."  
"When the dragon burned off Percy's shirt, how didn't he get burned?"  
"That will also be explained."  
"Why is Nico's wand made of metal?"  
"That will also be explained. You know what? I'm just going to explain it, okay?" I asked and they nodded. "The thing is, none of you can say anything to anyone about what I'm about to tell you or I'll expel you. Understood?" they nodded again. "So, at Salem, you focus on different things based on your bloodline. It's called Elemental Magic. Percy's magic is based on water. He can control it and do practically anything with it, that's why he wasn't burned by the dragons fire. The water cancels out the fire. He didn't even have to think about protecting himself. It was a basic instinct.  
"With Nico, his magic is based on darkness, not the evil type of dark, but actual darkness. He practices what is called Umbrakinesis, which is controlling the shadows. He is also a necromancer a-." Granger cut me off.  
"But that's illegal! That's black magic! He should get arrested."  
"It's not black magic, it's dark magic. Trust me, there's a difference. We're learning about all of this is in class next semester. For Nico, necromancy comes naturally. He can also control rocks and metal, though not as well as his sister could. That's why his wand is made of metal. It makes it easier to use. Percy's wand has water as the core. So, while Percy and Nico might not know your type of magic, they know elemental magic. They aren't that talented at wand magic because that's not why they're bloodlines were taught. Did I miss anything?"  
"Why didn't the truth potions work of them?"  
"No wand magic works on them. You could hit them with the killing curse and the worst it would do would knock them unconscious."  
"What about how they left the ball?"  
"Nico can control the shadows. He can even travel through them."  
"I have one more question," Hermione said. I wanted to tell her to shut it because I was sick of answering their questions, but I had to keep up appearances. I had to be nice.  
"And what would that be?"  
"How do you know so much about Percy and Nico?"  
"I went to Salem, and before you ask, my magic is based on light and the sun."  
"Like your name, Apollo, the Greek god of the sun." That stopped me for a moment. I wasn't expecting that.  
"Exactly like him. That's actually where my family gets their last name from."  
"What's your first name?"  
I looked at one of the red-haired twins and smiled. "Fred."


	10. Chapter 10

Leo's POV

"Haha! Loser!" Nico taunted Percy over our win. I had made sure to side with Hades cabin for Capture the Flag and we beat Percy's team. Nico seemed to be a sore winner. Then again, we did beat Percy Jackson. That's not something a lot of people can say.  
"Whatever, Nico. If I took away your skeletons or shadow traveling, your team would've lost." Nico chuckled.  
"Yes, well, you see, you guys can't take that from me, but we can take water from you."  
"You're a dick, did you know that Nico?" Perce asked and he nodded.  
"You say that like you didn't already know that."  
I popped into their conversation. "Will you two stop fighting like an old married couple?" I tried to sound annoyed but I couldn't get the smile off of my face. I'm not just smiling because we beat Percy, but because this was apart of the Aphrodite cabin and my plan.  
"We're not arguing like an old married couple!" Percy argued and Nico agreed with him.  
"Oh, right, you two are arguing like boyfriends! Married couples don't argue like that!" Before Percy or Nico could punch me, I ran back over to Piper.  
"You planted the idea in their heads, right?" She asked and I nodded.  
"Yep."  
"Good. I think this is going to be easier than we originally thought. I can sense chemistry between them already."  
"We should have the Iris cabin throw a rainbow or two into the sky tomorrow. I think that would be prefect," Piper's half brother, Mitchell said.  
"Yeah, Butch would probably do that if we asked," Lacy, Piper's half sister, added.  
Our plan was simple. We were going to get Percy and Nico to start dating. They were both still sad over the loss of their loved ones and were knew that they would make each other happy if they were together. We also knew that Percy wouldn't start dating ever again if we didn't give him a little push.  
We had talked with Aphrodite and she said that she's already started planting the idea of them together in their heads, but from what she told us, she didn't just plant an idea and give them a little push, she basically shoved them into a room together and said, "Now go have sex!"  
I mean, you don't give two people pamphlets on gay sex and flavored lube. You just don't.  
"Look at them," Piper said as she bumped into me to get my attention and she gestured to the two boys.  
Nico was giving Percy a piggyback ride, which was a sight to see. Percy was still taller than Nico, even though they looked to be the same age. Percy was 5'8 and Nico was 5'5. Neeks was still scrawny and was struggling to carry Percy, but he didn't look like he minded.

 

 

Nico's POV

"Oh my gods, you are so heavy!" I groaned as Percy jumped on my back.  
"I'm not heavy, you're just scrawny."  
"No I'm not!"  
"Yeah, you are."  
"If you're going to call me scrawny then you're going to have to walk."  
"Fine, you're not scrawny, you're just short."  
"Aren't those just synonyms?"  
"I don't know."  
"Whatever."  
I kept walking with Percy on my back until we got to the campfire.  
"Let there be light!" Leo shouted as set his hands on fire and sent a fireball into the fire pit. Everyone cheered and the fire grew higher. Leo bowed. "Congratulations to the blue team for victory!" Leo shouted and the cheering grew louder and the fire grew higher. "Now who has the marshmallows!"  
*****  
The campfire was a normal one. We were singing songs and the flames were burning a bright yellow. We were leaving tomorrow morning for Hogwarts, and I was dreading it. We were getting there a two days before school started back up so we could, and I quote, "have bonding time with the wizards." Sometimes Apollo was really annoying. I didn't want to go back on a stressful quest that is full of challenges that will probably get Percy killed.  
"Percy!" Leo called from a few seats away. "Open and catch!" He tossed a toasted marshmallow at him. Percy opened his mouth to catch it, but because of Leo's bad aim, it hit me in the face.  
Leo, Piper, Percy and whoever else was watching started laughing and I just sat there in confusion.  
"How did you miss that badly?" I demanded and Leo shrugged and went back to his conversation with Piper who looked oddly happy. They've been acting weird this past week, but then again, they are always weird.  
Percy looked at me and kept laughing. He took the marshmallow that was stuck on my cheek and ate it. I gave him an odd look.  
"What? It was a perfectly good marshmallow and it was meant for me anyways."  
"You're a freak."  
"Well, if I wasn't a freak I wouldn't be able to do this." He swished his wrist and a small ball of water appeared and he started rubbing it on my cheek to get the rest of the marshmallow off.  
"This feels so weird," I said and he chuckled. The ball was almost solidified into a solid shape.  
"Of course it feels weird, I'm cleaning your face with water without using a wash cloth." After a few moments, he removed it from my cheek. "There, your face is nice and clean." He then threw the ball of water into the dirt and it disappeared into a wet patch.  
"Thank you."   
"You're welcome."  
Percy and I sat in comfortable silent for a few minutes, listening to the Apollo Cabin lead the sing along, but it was only them singing as everyone else had started conversations.  
I broke the silence between us.  
"We need to talk about the quest," I told him and he nodded and stood up, heading to the cabins. This was a normal thing for us. We normally left the campfire early so we could talk about everything that's happened and everything’s that's going to happened on the quest. After a few minutes, we made it to my cabin. Percy pulled himself onto the top bunk, ignoring the ladder, and I went and sat on the bottom.  
Percy had been coming over to my cabin a lot so we could talk about the quest. He normally stays pretty late. He's also claimed my top bunk as his own, but I was fine with that. I thought it was actually pretty cute how he was so comfortable in here. Anyone other than myself, including Hazel, always felt unwelcomed and just weird whenever they would come into the cabin. Percy felt weird, but after an hour or two the weirdness went away. Now he considered it his cabin too.  
We don't really hangout in the Poseidon Cabin. I don't like it. Whenever I entered it, I would get a sudden pang of terror. It was basically Poseidon saying, 'Get out of my cabin!' So, I don't go in there anymore.  
"What did you want to talk about?" Percy asked and I shrugged even though he could see it. "You just shrugged, didn't you?" I nodded. "I thought so."  
"What about the challenges?" I asked. This was our main topic of conversation.  
"I don't know. Apollo will probably tell us later on. It can't be that hard. The others weren't that bad."  
I gave the bed above me a dumbfounded look that Percy couldn't see. "Are you forgetting the fact that you were almost slaughtered by a dragon? You could've died." I felt the bed move and then saw Percy hanging his head over the railing, looking at me. He seemed slightly offended.  
"Might I remind you that I couldn't use a Celestial Bronze sword? It's not my fault. Anyways, you would've saved me. I have faith in that." He watched me nod in agreement with what he said.  
"If Apollo wasn't there I would've thrown you into the lake. I don't care if the wizards would've found out about us." Percy smiled.  
"I love you too, Nico," Percy said and I blushed. I knew he meant it in a friendly/brotherly way, but still. I changed the subject.  
"Apollo is a lot better of a teacher than I thought he would be." Percy pulled his head from other the railing, causing the bed to move again and he laid back down.  
"He actually isn't that bad. He's the best teacher I've ever had, other than Paul."  
"What do you think his class is going to be about this semester?" I asked and I felt the bed move slightly, which meant that Percy shrugged.  
"I don't know, probably just more spells."  
"Do you think we'll get to keep our wands once the quest is over?" The bed moved slightly again.  
There was a tap tap tap sound and I got off my bed, looking for the source of the noise.  
"It's the window," Percy said and I went to open up the window. There was only one and it was quite small. Both Mr. Birdy and Wise Girl were there and flew in the moment they were able to.  
"Hey fella," I said as I took the envelope from his beak. Percy sat up and did the same with his owl.  
It was from Hogwarts.  
Percy got his opened before I did. "It's our timetables for this semester." Perce hopped off his bunk and compared his to mine. "We have the same schedule again," he said, smiling which made me smile too.  
"We have two new classes. Care of Magical Creatures and Divination," I said and Percy nodded.  
"Which means we don't have two of the classes from last semester which are...Herbology, which is good because every plant died the moment you touched them and...Muggle Studies, which is amazing because I don't want to listen to a teacher talk about how use a claw-machine for thirty minutes." I chuckled. Percy was being dead serious. He almost went crazy during that class.  
"I would rather have Muggle Studies than Potions. Snape is a dick."  
"I know, I hate him! Him and all his little snakes."  
"Especially Draco. I understand why Harry and all them hate him."  
"Yeah, remember his dragon?" Percy asked and I nodded. "I overheard him telling his friends that his dad paid one of the people who take care of them to give it a sleeping potion."  
"That cheater! I'm going to punch him when I see him again!" Percy chuckled and laid a hand on my shoulder.  
"No, you're not. You don't want Snape to give you detention." I groaned. Snape's detentions were the worst. I got one because I accidently put too much of something in a potion and caused it to explode, and I had to clean out all of his cauldrons, and there were about thirty. It took my three hours.  
"Whatever, now I need to go to bed if I'm traveling us across continents tomorrow."  
"Okay, night," Percy said and gave me a slight hug before walking out of the cabin with his owl on his shoulder.

 

Percy's POV

I woke up someone pounding on my door. "Go away," I groaned, covering my face with my pillow. The person at my door took my annoyance as an invitation to come into my cabin. Someone started poking me. "Go away," I repeated and my pillow was pulled from my face, but I covered my eyes with my hands.  
"Chiron told me that I have to wake you up," Leo said.  
"I don't care. Go away."  
"Is this what Nico has to deal with every morning? Man, that would get so annoying."  
"Uggggg, go away."  
Leo pulled my hands away from my face, but I turned over so I was laying on my stomach with my face pushed into the mattress. "This is my last day to sleep in."  
"To bad," Leo said and I felt my bed move and then there was weight on my back.  
"Please leave me alone."  
"Nope." He started poking me. I quickly flipped over and shoved Leo off my me, sending him flying to the floor. "Owwwww." I smiled.  
"Gods, how does di Angelo even like you?"  
"He knows how to wake me up, and this is not the way."  
"I know how to wake you up," Leo said and I could practically hear the evil smirk in his voice. I heard him stand up.  
"And how is that?"  
"For the past week the Aphrodite cabin and I have been trying to get you and Nico to hook up."  
That woke me up fast.  
"What?" I asked as I quickly sat up.  
"You've got to catch me to get the answer," he said before sprinting out of my room. I was out that door within moments, my bed completely forgotten.

 

 

Piper's POV

I woke up to a bunch of screaming, which is never a good sign. I quickly got out of my bed and went to the front porch of the cabin where most of my siblings were already standing. I saw that most of the campers were outside, practically everyone in their pajamas, watching the scene before us.  
There was a half naked Percy, dressed only in his boxers, chasing a smiling Leo. Leo might not be the quickest person at camp, but he was faster than Percy.  
"What the fuck did that mean, Leo!" Percy yelled, chasing the shorter boy.  
"You gotta catch me!"  
"Leo! If I have to keep chasing you, I'm going to break your legs when I finally get you!"  
"No you're not! You love me too much! But not as much as you love Nico!" Oh no, oh gods, Leo's such an idiot. I quickly turned my head to look at the Hades Cabin, but all the lights were off and the curtains were pulled. Nico was nowhere in sight. He was probably still sleeping, thank the gods.  
"What the fuck are you even talking about!"  
Leo let out a crazed laugh. "You gotta catch me first!"  
After about five minutes, Leo made the idiotic decision to head toward the lake. Percy aimed his running so the only place Leo had left to go was the pier. He stopped at the end, with nowhere else to run because of the water. Percy kept running at full speed, hitting him head on, and sending them tumbling into the lake.  
Everyone laughed. I looked back at the Hades cabin, seeing a light turn on. I quickly ran out into the middle of the cabins and got everyone's attention.  
"No one say anything about this until lunch!" I yelled, putting as much Charmspeak into my voice as I could.  
Leo was such an idiot. We've been planning on getting Percy and Nico together for a week now and he just had to go and tell Percy. We were supposed to just be planting the idea in their heads, not doing what my mom did and practically forcing them into it. Uggggg, Leo is so stupid.

 

 

Leo's POV

Piper is totally going to kill me for doing this, but I am not a patient person.  
I didn't think that this was how my morning was going to end up. Chiron told me to wake up Percy and Nico so they could eat breakfast before going to on their quest, whatever it was. I didn't think I would end up at the bottom of the lake with a shirtless Percy sitting on my chest holding my heads above my head. At least he was nice enough to give me an air bubble.  
"You know, if I didn't know any better I would think that you were going to kiss me," I said with a smirk and Percy groaned and let go of my hands, getting off of me.  
"What did you mean by 'trying to get you and Nico to hook up?'" Percy asked and I shrugged innocently.  
"Nothing at all. I was just trying to wake you up. I told you I knew how." Percy didn't believe me.  
"So, what you're trying to say is that you and Piper having been acting weird this past week for no apparent reason?" I nodded. "Have you ever heard of waterboarding?" Percy asked and I gulped and gave him a scared look. I knew what waterboarding was and it sounded terrifying. "I'll take that as a yes."   
He pulled my shirt off and wrapped if around my face, shoving me so I was lying down with my hands above my head once again. I may be faster than Percy, but he was stronger than me.  
"If you don't tell me what you mean, I'm going to pop a little hole in your air bubble, causing a steady stream of water to pour onto your face, causing your brain to think you're drowning. Now, either tell me, or I'll start." I didn't say anything. "To bad."  
I felt water hit my face and before I could even stop myself I yelled, "Fine, fine, I'll tell you." Percy removed my shirt from my face.  
"Good, because I didn't want to do that to you. Now tell me."  
"Okay, so, think about it. It makes since. You're not dating anyone, Nico's not dating anyone, neither of you are going to date anyone without a little bit of help. Piper and I thought that we could be the help and make the two of you happy together."  
Percy thought about that for a second. "Well, that's nice of you guys, but I'm not gay, neither is Nico." I stifled a laugh.  
"Nico's gay and you're bisexual."  
"Nico's gay? Really?" I nodded. "How did you know I was bi?"  
"Drew has this weird talent where she just knows. It's like a gaydar on steroids."  
"What if you and Piper are just trying to get the two of us together because you both want to be in a relationship but you don't know how to express it to each other." I chuckled.  
"I'm in love, but the girl I'm in love with is out of my reach."  
"Is she dead?" Percy asked carefully, not knowing if this was a sore topic.  
I shook my head. "No, she's stuck on an island that I can't ever get to again."  
Percy's eyes widened. "Calypso?" He asked in shock and I nodded. "Seriously?" I nodded again.  
"Yeah, you've heard of her?"  
"I was in love with her."  
"What?" I yelled. Percy was in love with Calypso? Percy knew Calypso? He's very mentioned that. "You've never even mentioned to me about you meeting her, much less loving her!"  
Percy just shrugged. "I never told anyone, not even Annabeth."  
"Really?"  
"Yeah, she was my biggest 'what if.' She asked my to stay but I knew I couldn't."  
I hugged Percy. "I know how you feel, bro."  
"Did I ever tell you that I kissed Nico?" I pushed back from the hug and stared at Percy's smiling face. After a moment, I slapped him.  
"Owww! What was that for?" the red mark on his face that was from my hand had already faded because Percy was submerged in water.  
"I went though so much effort to put you in situations where you would have to be around Nico or touching him or something and you're telling me that you've already kissed him?" I yelled.  
"Yep," Percy said nodding.  
"When! Tell me the story!" I begged.  
"Okay, so him and I were at a dance a-."  
"When? Where?" I cut him off so I could get more details.  
"We're at our school on our quest, so at the school dance the day before we came to camp."  
"Okay, continue."  
"So, we were dancing and I don't really remember how or why, but we started quoting Frozen because you got us obsessed with that movie and then some dick made a homophobic comment and I freaked out on him and I threatened to, well basically, break every bone in his body and cut off his hand."  
"That's violent, but what about the kissing?" I asked, wanting to get to the Percico bit of the story. Yes, I am a fangirl. Not fanboy. Fangirl and proud.  
"So, I then lectured the whole school about the difference between being a homophobe and being an asshole and I told them that to be homophobic, you have to actually be scared of gayness, so I kissed Nico to prove a point."  
My arms started to fly around in excitement. "Was there tongue?"  
Percy face-palmed. "No, Leo. There was not tongue."  
"Do you like him?" I pressed and he just shrugged.  
"I don't know, maybe?"  
"Did you enjoy the kiss?"  
"Yeah."  
"Was it better than when you kissed Annabeth?" I pressed, hoping I wasn't crossing a line when I mentioned her.  
"What's it to you, Leo?"  
"I need to know these thing! You guys are my OTP!"  
Percy gave me a dumbfounded look. "I'm drowning you, Valdez."  
"No you won't, you love me too much but not as much-," he cut me off.  
"Don't you dare finish that sentence." I put my hands up in defeat.  
"So, do you like Nico?" He shrugged.  
"I honestly don't know."  
"Well, you're about to have to spend the next five months living with him, so lets hope you figure out your feeling by the time you get back to camp." Then, it donned on me. "Oh shit, I was supposed to wake you up and Nico up so you guys could eat breakfast before you had to leave for your quest."  
"Then let's go," Percy said as he grabbed my arm, pulling me to the surface. When we got to the dock, Percy looked at me seriously and said, "If you and Piper try to force Nico to like me or you guys put a charm on him, I'll break your arms."  
I put my hands up in defense. "Dude, weren't not Aphrodite. We have boundaries. We're going to let the two of you guys figure out your feeling for yourselves. All we did was give you guys a little push."  
"And I thank you for that. So, I'm going to return the favor. Your father visited my while I was on Ogygia, so he knows where it is. Just ask him where it is, the worst thing he can do is not tell you. There's no harm in trying."  
I turned and looked and Percy, smiling. "Thank you."

 

 

Nico's POV

Percy was acting kind of weird at breakfast today, but I just shrugged it off, assuming it was because he didn't want to leave camp.  
I had woken up to a loud commotion, but I didn't know what it was about, and since no one had even mentioned it, I didn't give it a second thought. If it was something important, I would've been told about it.  
Leo jumped on my back as I walked out of my cabin for the final time for the next few months.  
"Get off me, you're wet," I told him but he ignored me. Why Leo was wet, I had no idea.  
"I'm going to miss you, Nicky!" He yelled in my ear and I rolled my eyes.  
"I hate being called Nicky."  
"I know, that's why I call you it! But really, I'm going to miss you!"  
"And I'll miss you too," I told him as I walked towards Percy's cabin, carrying him. I wasn't sure if it was true or not, but it was the polite thing to say. "Now shouldn't you be getting ready? Piper told me that you two are going to Olympus right after we leave."  
Leo jumped off my back. "Oh gods, I forgot! Tell Percy that I love him and I'm going to miss him! Bye!" He yelled, running off to his cabin in a panic.  
I chuckled as I kept walking to the Poseidon cabin. As I knocked on the door, Percy opened it.  
"Hey Neeks, you ready?" I nodded. "Okay, I just need to tell Leo good bye and then we can leave."  
"I was just with him. He had to go get ready for a visit to Olympus, but he wanted me to tell you that he loves you and he'll miss you." Percy nodded as he thought about that.  
"Why is he going to Olympus?"  
"All I know is that he and Piper have a meeting with the gods."  
"Huh, well come in and we can leave."  
I took a step into the cabin and suddenly felt the need to leave, but I ignored it. I would only be in here for a few seconds so it didn't really matter.  
I shut the door and Percy turned off the lights.  
"Ready?" I asked and I felt him grab my hand. I blushed, but thankfully he couldn't see.  
"Yep."  
"Then let's go." We took a step towards the wall and disappeared.


	11. Chapter 11

Harry's POV

They Weasley's, Hermione, a few others and myself were at Hogwarts. Most of the students were spending Christmas with their parents and would be joining us in two days when school starts back up. We were hanging in the common room when the door opened.  
"Percy, Nico, how are you two?" Neville asked as the two boys walked in and sat on the couch.  
"Were good, Neville, thanks for asking," Nico responded back.  
"What have you guys been up two?" Fred asked.  
"You two disappeared really quickly at the ball," George added.  
"Yeah, right after you almost killed Winston," Fred continued.  
"What did you even say to him?" George finished.  
"So, his name is Winston?" Percy asked with an evil smirk on his face.  
I nodded. "Yeah, you terrified him."  
"Winston, pissed Percy off, and a pissed off Percy is a scary Percy," Nico said.  
"Damn straight," Percy said, but then added, "Or should I say-."  
"Please don't," Nico cut off.  
"Damn gay." Nico groaned and put his face in his hands. "Do you get it? I almost killed him because he said a rude comment about gay people."  
"I swear to the gods Percy, you are the most annoying person I've every met. That was a stupid joke," Nico complained but Percy and everyone else was laughing.  
"Oh come on Nico, you know I'm hilarious."  
"Actually, Percy, you're so dumb that you make me want to psychically attack you."  
"But you love me to much to ever hurt me." Nico blushed.  
"Wanna bet?" Nico asked with a smirk.  
"Yeah, I do."  
"What, are you two going to fight?" Ron asked sarcastically and Percy stood up.  
"Yes, we are. Come on Nico, lets take this outside."  
They both walked out the door that they had just walked in a few minutes ago.  
We sat there for a few moments in confusion. "Should we follow them?" Ginny asked, then we all rushed out the door.  
When we caught up, they were standing outside in a fifty feet wide circle of snow-free grass. Professor Apollo was standing with them, talking.  
"-school starts back up, hand-to-hand combat is the next thing I'm teaching. You know, because not all Dark Arts are just magical."  
"Apollo, if anyone knows that, it's the two of us," Nico said and the Professor laughed.  
"Okay, looks like everyone is here," Percy said once he saw us.  
"Actually," Professor Apollo said, "Everyone that's here at the school is coming to watching."  
"But how did you know we were going to figh-." Percy stopped talking once the professor gave him a dumbfounded look. "Never mind, that was a stupid question."  
The castle doors opened and about thirty kids walked out, along with the teachers that were still here. Professor Dumbledore looked particularly excited.  
"Everyone!" Professor Apollo said, getting the attention of the student. "Next semester we will be focusing on hand-to-hand, and weapon-to-weapon combat in a Defense Against the Dark Arts club. Nico and Percy here have decided that they would like to be over achievers and demonstrate how sword fighting works."  
"I'm not an over achiever!" Nico argued. "I just want to try and kill Percy because he's a dumbass."  
"Five points from Gryffindor for language," McGonagall said and Nico just shrugged.  
"It's true."  
"Nico, Percy, your weapons," Apollo said and waved his wand. A bronze and a black sword appeared on the ground in front of them. Percy looked confused and patted his pockets, then he shrugged and went and picked up the bronze one. Nico grabbed the black one.  
"Ready your weapons," Apollo said and then took a few steps back so he wasn't in their way, "Begin!"

 

Apollo's POV

Once they started fighting, I quickly moved out of their way. Percy and Nico were an equal enough match, since Percy's body was physically weaker than it normally was and I had healed Nico of his tiredness from shadow traveling before the wizards were out here.  
"Powers?" Percy asked and Nico gave him a dumbfounded look.  
"What are you? An idiot? Do you not see those people right there? We can't use powers!" Almost like an afterthought, he added, "They might get hurt! We can't just go casting spells everywhere! This is purely talent!"  
'Wow, nice cover,' I thought sarcastically.  
The two cousins weren't going easy on each other in any way, shape or form.  
Little Ginny Weasley gasped as Nico swung his sword at Percy's throat, and he would've taken his head clean off his shoulders if Percy hadn't taken a step back.  
"They could hurt each other!" Ginny yelled at me. "How can you allow this?"  
I chuckled as Percy yelled, "If this child can hurt me, then I deserve it!"  
"I'm older than you!"  
"Hotels," slash, "don't," slash, "count!" Percy kicked Nico in the chest, probably bruising a few ribs because it was not a light kick, causing him to fall. Percy drove his sword straight down, and would've stabbed clear through Nico's head if he hadn't rolled to the side.  
Nico quickly got up and as Percy tried to pull his sword out of the frozen ground. He kicked Percy in his back, but as he fell, Percy tucked his head in and did a summersault, standing up. Nico jabbed at Percy, but Percy sidestepped, grabbed Nico's wrist, and knock the sword out of Nico's hand.  
Nico elbowed Percy in the nose, breaking it. "Apollo! Does the hotel count?" Nico asked as he put up his fists, Percy mirroring him. They were both smiling, but Percy's was a bloody smile since blood was dripping from his nose into his mouth.  
"Honestly, Nico, I'm not very sure, but right now, you are physically older than Percy."  
"Ha!" Percy ducked as Nico punched at him. "I told you I was older." Percy punched Nico in the stomach, causing everyone to gasp. Nico just chuckled. "You punch like a girl."  
"With the girls we know, I'll take that as a complement," Percy responded. They were both still smiling like giddy little children. The students were freaking out, wondering how I could allow this, but the teachers were very entertained. I even saw Albus and Minerva making a bet.  
Percy and Nico were having a blast. They were punching, kicking, and even biting. In Percy's defense, Nico's hand got to close to his mouth.  
After five minutes, I called it a tie. They were both bleeding and bruised and based on those kicks, they probably had a few cracked ribs.  
"Shake hands," I said and they did. I handed them each a vile of nectar and they downed them. I gave them a congratulatory pat on the back, healing them without the Wizards knowing.  
"Nice fighting, Neeks. You're getting better."  
"Thanks, I was taught by the best." Percy smiled, but Nico finished his sentence. "To bad Jason isn't here for me to thank him."  
Percy glared at his little cousin, then grabbed his arm and started pulling him towards the frozen lake. "Apollo?" Percy asked and gestured to the lake with his head and I chuckled. I waved my wand, just for the effect because I didn't really need it, and the lake unfroze.  
"No!" Nico yelled. "Percy, please don't!" but, of course, Percy didn't listen and the two of them fell into the lake fully clothed.

 

Ron's POV

Dear lord, Percy and Nico's fight was terrifying. I honestly thought that they were going to kill each other. Nico almost beheaded Percy and Percy almost stabbed Nico straight through the skull. When they each lost their sword, I was happy because I thought the fight was over, but I was wrong.  
They raised their fists and started punching each other. I'd seen them slap and shove each other before, but it was nothing like this.  
After five terrifying minutes, Professor Apollo stopped the fight.  
"Okay you two, I'm calling it a tie!" He called and almost instantly Percy and Nico stopped fighting. "Shake hands." They shook hands and Apollo handed them each a vile of what was probably a healing potion and gave them a pat on the back.  
"Nice fighting, Neeks. You're getting better."  
"Thanks, I was taught by the best." Percy smiled at what Nico said, but then he finished his sentence. "To bad Jason isn't here for me to thank him."  
That seemed to annoy Percy, so he grabbed Nico's arm and pulled him towards the lake, asking Apollo to unfreeze it, which he did.  
"No, Percy, please don't!" Nico begged but Percy ignored him and they both fell into the lake fully clothed.  
We stared in silence, still in shock with the fight we saw. My sister broke the quite.  
"How could you allow them to fight like that?" She yelled, staring at Professor Apollo. "They could have killed each other!" Apollo chuckled and shook his head.  
"Percy and Nico are both very skilled fighters. They knew what they were doing."  
"Aren't they going to freeze in the lake?" Hermione asked and Apollo thought about that for a second before he shrugged.  
"They'll probably be fine," he said and he turned around, walking back towards the castle. I looked at Harry and he had the same thought as me.  
The lake water might've been unfrozen, but our friends were still in freezing cold water. We ran over to where they had jumped into the lake, and just as we got there, they heads came above the water.  
"Jackson! Let go of me right now!" Nico yelled, but Percy kept his arms wrapped around the other boy.  
"Nope! You're staying in here with me," he sang, obviously happy to be in freezing cold water that could kill him. Percy was a weird guy.  
"Percy, let go of Nico!" Hermione told him sternly. "You both need to get out before you get hypothermia!" Percy thought about that for a second before releasing his friend.  
Nico swam towards the edge where Harry and I were waiting to pull him out. As soon as his hand touched mine, I almost let him go. He skin was ice cold from the recently unfroze water.  
By the time we got Nico out, Percy had pulled himself onto dry land. Hermione pulled out her wand and said some spell that caused hot air to blow out of her wand, drying off the two wet boys.  
"Thanks," Nico said, still shivering.  
"No problem. Now let's get you in the castle before you get sick."

 

Harry's POV

Hermione, Neville, the Weasley's and I waited in the Common Room as Percy and Nico went to the room to get changed. Their clothes weren't wet since Hermione had dried them when they had gotten out of the lake, but they were covered in blood from the fight.  
"Are we going to tell them that we know they're Elemental Wizards?" I asked and the others shrugged.  
"Professor Apollo said that he would expel us if we mentioned anything that he had told us to anyone," Hermione said.  
"But do you think that included Percy and Nico?"  
"Do we really want to take that chance?" We shook our heads.  
"Let's not mention it unless they bring it up or it's absolutely necessary." Everyone agreed and we changed the topic so that when Percy and Nico came down, we weren't sitting in awkward silence.  
"So, what have you guys been doing on your break?" Nico asked as he and Percy entered the Common Room five minutes later.  
"Playing Quidditch mostly," Ron answered. "We weren't able to have an actual team this year because of the Wizard Tournament."  
"We were actually about to head out to play again when you guys got back," Fred told them.  
"Well you didn't have to stop on our account. Do you guys wanna go play a game?" Percy asked and I was shocked. Neither Percy nor Nico had shown any interest in the game since we explained to them the details of it.  
I wasn't the only one who noticed. "You gonna play with us?" George asked and the two boys shook their heads.  
"No, not unless there's a version of it where you can play on the ground," Percy said.  
"But we can keep Hermione company on the bench," Nico added.  
We all agreed that would be a good idea and ten minutes later we were all on the Quidditch Pitch and Hermione, Nico and Percy were in the stands.  
I knew that Hermione was going to use this time to try and get to know them better. She didn't know as much about them as she wished she did, and with everything Apollo told us, she just wants to know more.  
Hermione was about to get all of her answers.

 

Hermione's POV

I needed to know more about Percy and Nico. I knew that I couldn't ask them about the war that Apollo had told us about, but that didn't mean I couldn't find out more about their past's.  
"So, what did you two do on your break?" I asked as we sat down. I was pretty out of breaths after walking up about one hundred steps and Percy and Nico were only breathing slightly harder than normal.  
"We spent a day or some with my mom and step dad and then the rest of the time with our friends," Percy explained.  
"Step dad?" I asked and Percy nodded.  
"Yeah, my parents were never married."  
"Where's your actual dad?"  
"He's in the Navy."  
"Is he a wizard?" Percy nodded. "Why is he in the Navy if he's a wizard?"  
"I don't know. Following his passion for the open sea, I suppose." A passion for the open seas? That would fit with the bloodline that had to do with water that Professor Apollo told us about.  
"What about your family, Nico? Why didn't you see them over break?"  
Nico just shrugged. "I never see my dad unless he needs me for something. Even then I try to avoid his place entirely because my step mom and I do not get along."  
"What about your mom?" He stiffened and Percy shot me a look. "I'm sorry, did I cross a line?"  
"No, no, it's just that I never really knew her. She died when I was little," he explained after a moment and I felt bad for bringing up his dead mother.  
"Oh, I'm sorry."  
"It's fine. It's not like it's your fault."  
"What are your friends like?" I asked, really hoping that I didn't bring up another sensitive topic. Apollo had told us that they had lost a lot of friends in their war.  
"They're great," Percy said as he smiled. "They're funny, smart and just all around amazing people."  
We talked about their friends from Salem for a while before I found it appropriate to bring up the question I've really been wanting to ask.  
"Are you two dating?" The two in question froze.  
"Why would you ask that?"  
I felt my cheeks flush. This was embarrassing me for some reason. "Well, you guys kissed at the ball after quoting Frozen." Thankfully, they started laughing.  
"No, we're not dating," Nico said and I noticed he was blushing, but it was probably because I asked a sort of odd question.  
"Then why did you kiss?"  
"So I could prove a point to Winston that there's a difference between being homophobic and being an asshole."  
"Well, there is a difference," I told them and they nodded in agreement. "If you were homophobic, you would have a genuine fear of people who like the same sex, not just disprove of their lifestyles. That's like saying you have Arachnophobia and just being like, 'I don't approve of spiders.'"  
"I don't know what arach-whatever you just said- is, but I agree with you." Nico slapped the back of Percy head.  
"You're a dumbass, you should know what it is."  
"Well what is it then, if you're so smart?" Percy asked and Nico slapped the back of his head again.  
"It's the fear of spiders."  
"Ohhhhhh," Percy said, nodding and Nico looked at him like he couldn't believe how stupid he was. "I should've known that."  
Before I could ask them any more questions, we heard cheering and we turned to look at the Quidditch Pitch where Harry, Ron and Neville had just beaten Fred, George and Ginny.  
"I don't understand any of this," Nico said as he watching as Ron did victory laps on his broom.  
"Well, I'm sure Harry and Ron would gladly teach you. Don't you have Quidditch at Salem?"  
They shook their heads.  
"No, we focus more on things like sword fighting and archery," Nico explained. "It's more of an ancient type of thing."  
"Don't forget about capture the flag," Percy added and Nico nodded.  
"We can't forget about that."  
"What's capture the flag?" I asked. I knew vaguely of it because it's a muggle game, but I had a feeling that their version was slightly different.  
"It's basically the Quidditch of Salem, but it has a lot less rules. There are two teams and they each hide a flag and the other team tries to find the flag and get it across the boundary line to win."  
"Oh, that sounds fun," I said, being polite. It actually sounded pretty boring, but saying that would be rude.  
"Did you see that!" Ron yelled as he flew towards us on his broom. "Did you see that?" he repeated and we shook our heads. "Uggg, it was so awesome! You guys need to pay better attention!" He zoomed off, and Percy, Nico and I started laughing.  
"He seems really into this."  
"It's his dream to play on a professional team," I explained. "I think he was planning on trying out for the Gryffindor team this year, but then Quidditch got canceled."  
"Do you think he would've made it?" Nico asked and I shrugged.  
"Well, considering Fred, George and Harry are on the team, it was a pretty much sure spot."  
"That sucks that they didn't do it this year. Do you know why the Wizard Tournament interfered with Quidditch? There are only five tasks."  
"I'm not sure," I said and decided this was a good time to ask another question I've been dying to ask. "Do you know what the next task is in the tournament?"  
"No, why would I? We aren't told until the day of," Percy asked, seeming sort of offended.  
"You knew about the dragon," I pressed.  
"We saw them in the forest," Nico said, lying.  
"No, you didn't."  
"And why would you think that?" Percy asked, rising an eyebrow.  
"Because I can tell that Nico is lying. Will you please just tell me who told you? I only think it's fair that Harry has the same information about the tasks as you do," I said, trying to guilty them. It knew it worked when Percy sighed.  
"Fine, but you have to promise not to tell anyone about my source, not even Harry."  
"I won't say anything, I promise. Who's your source?" I was pretty sure I already knew, but I wanted to be positive.  
"Professor Apollo."


	12. Chapter 12

Percy's POV

It was our first day since Winter Break had ended and school started back up tomorrow. We were all at breakfast and Dumbledore said that there was going to be an announcement at lunch later today, so naturally, everyone was trying to guess what it was going to be about.  
The most popular theory was that he was going to announce what the next task was going to be in the Wizard Tournament, and being one of the contesters; I was listening to every rumor.  
By the time lunch came around, the whole school was anxiously awaiting to hear the announcement.  
"Everyone!" Dumbledore called, getting his students attention. "Please give Professor Apollo your undivided attention." Apollo stood up from his seat at the Head Table and took Dumbledore's place at the podium. This can't be good.  
"After lunch, we will have a few guests coming to visit. They will only be staying for an hour or so and I expect you all to be on you're best behavior."  
Hermione raised her hand to ask a question and Apollo called on her. "Who's coming to visit?"  
"Some friends of mine who are going to help explain the curriculum that I will be teaching in Defense Against the Dark Arts this semester."  
"And what's that?" Hermione asked.  
"You will find out later. Now, eat!" With that, food covered the table.  
"Who do you think it is coming to visit?" Hermione asked and Harry, Ron, Nico and I shrugged.  
A friend of Apollo's? Was it some demigods? Was it some gods? Gods I hope not. I couldn't handle seeing Aphrodite again after the condoms incident and the fact that I kissed Nico. She would try and force us to be together and fall in love and I wasn't ready for any of that yet. I didn't even know how I felt about Nico.  
"It's probably going to be some people to demonstrate sword fighting," Hermione continued, not letting us answer her first question. "Remember when you two sword fought the other day?" She asked, gesturing to Nico and myself. "He said that we would be focusing on hand-to-hand and weapon-to-weapon combat."  
Hermione kept talking and talking and I just tuned her out, focusing on my chicken instead. Then a voice started talking in my head.  
"I need you and Nico to meet me in my classroom after lunch." I replied in my head, telling the voice that I was assuming was Apollo that I wouldn't miss it for the world and he called me a sarcastic little bitch. I chuckled and Nico gave me a weird look.  
"What's so funny?"  
"My really amazing inner monologue," I said and he just rolled his eyes.  
Once lunch was over, I held Nico back as the others went outside where we were going to meet the visitors.  
"What is it?" He asked and I just pulled him away from the crowd and towards our cousin's classroom.  
"Apollo wanted to talk to us," I said once we couldn't be over heard.  
When we walked into the classroom, Nico and I were immediately tackled to the floor.  
"This is where you guys have been on your quest?" Leo yelled as he hugged us. "This place is so beautiful!"  
Nico shoved Leo off of us and Thalia grabbed my hand to pulled me up as Piper did the same with Nico.  
"Thalia!" I called, pulling her into a hug and she hugged me back. Yes, I was a boy but I was also her cousin so I didn't really count.  
Before I could ask her how she's been, Apollo started talking.  
"You guys can talk and reunite later, but right now I need to explain what's going on. I'm teaching the wizards about Elemental Magic, which is basically what you guys can do. You are going to wear these," he waved his hands and my robes changed into a blue cloak with a hood that cast a shadow onto my face. I looked at my friends and saw that each of them were wearing a different color. "I will call you guys by your colors so the wizards don't figure out that Percy and Nico are up here. You're hoods won't fall down so don't be afraid to over exaggerate your hand movements.  
"When we go out there, just go with the flow, but try to act professional. Each of you are going to show off your powers and feel free to go above and beyond. I'm with you so you guys won't get tired to pass out from over using your gifts. We are going to try to scare them, so when I give you your cue, I'll talk in your heads and tell you want to do. Do not say each other's name. Do you guys understand what's going on?" We nodded. "Okay, follow me."

 

 

Hermione's POV

The whole school was outside. Dumbledore had cast a spell that melted all the snow and unfroze the lake that had once again frozen over since Professor Apollo melted it a few days ago. We were all huddled together because it was still slightly chilly.  
After a few minutes, the castle doors opened and Professor Apollo walked out with five people in colorful cloaks following behind him. There was a blue one, black one, pink one, silver one and orange one.  
Since Percy and Nico weren't with us, I assumed that they were some of the cloaked figures.  
"Everyone, make a circle," Professor Apollo told us and everyone made a large circle around him and the others that was about twenty-five feet in diameter. Everyone trying to get a good spot so they could clearly see the guests. The cloaked people were standing in a straight line.  
"Please raise your hand if you have ever heard of the show Avatar the Last Air Bender?" The hands of most of the Muggle Burns and half bloods went up. "Okay, so some of these guys here have powers like the people on that show. The one dressed in orange can control fire, the one in sliver can control air, the one in black can control earth and the one in blue can control water."  
"What about the person in pink?"  
"We'll get to her later."  
"What they are going to show you is called Elemental Magic. It's a different type of magic than your own. They do not need a wand to do their magic." A mummer broke out. Not needing a wand? That's absurd.  
"Silver?" the Professor asked and the person dressed in silver stepped forward, out of the line. Silver's arms lifted and her body started to shake slightly. Oddly, her body lifted off of the ground, causing her to be hovering a few feet off the ground.  
"Very good, now come back down," Apollo told her and she did as he said. Once she was back on the ground she went back into her place in the line. Silver was in between the black and the blue figures. "Orange?"  
Orange stepped out of line and as his arms rose, they caught on fire. Everyone gasped. He started jumping around, doing karate moves as he sent fire everywhere, but it always went out before it hit any students. After a minute or two, he stopped and took a bow before going back into line. We clapped.  
"Black?" Black took a step forward before kneeling to the ground. We had no idea what he was doing until there was a slight tremor, causing a rock the shoot out of the ground under which I could only assume was Nico. Apollo told us that he could control rocks, but I had expected it to be pebbles or small things, not ten ton boulders.  
Black was about fifteen feet in the air when he jumped off, doing a front flip before he landed back on the ground, sending to rock back to where it was before. Then he stomped, causing the ground to open up. Before anyone could get a good look of what was down there, he stomped again and the fissure closed.  
We all clapped because that was really impressive. Sort of scary, but impressive nonetheless.  
"Blue."  
He took a few steps forward before breaking into a run towards the lake. Everyone who was in his way went to quickly move. Blue, who I assumed was Percy kept running at full speed towards the lake, not even stopping when he got to the edge. He just kept running head on and on top of the water.  
I heard someone whisper, "Is he Jesus?" and everyone that heard laughed.  
A wave appeared in the still lake, sweeping Blue off his feet, carrying him around the lake. After doing a few impressive tricks, he jumped back onto dry land, jogging back to the center of the circle where he bowed as a people clapped, and then taking his place back in line.  
"Now, not all of their powers are as lighthearted and fun as the ones that they just demonstrated. Here are some of them. Silver, hit Blue and Black."  
Silver seemed to know what that meant and she raised her arms again. This time she didn't float up. The sky darkened and the wind picked up, causing our hair to fly everywhere, but the hoods of the hooded figures stayed in place. Suddenly there were was a flash and two beams of lightning came down and hit Blue and Black, causing them to go flying. Everyone screamed.  
As Percy and Nico picked themselves up and moved back to their places in line, somehow okay but smoking slightly, Apollo continued talking. "They're powers are violent. Dangerous. Black." Apollo pointed to Nico and he pulled a black sword out of nowhere and stabbed it into the ground, causing it to tremor and half clothed bodies rose out of the ground, causing people to scream and gasp.  
"Black here can control ghosts, see peoples life forces, their auras. He can go into a death trance where he does not eat, sleep or breath, he just is. Also, he can summon what you call Inferius," Apollo said, pointing at the zombie like things who were just standing there.  
"Don't worry," Nico said in a monotone voice, "they won't attack unless I tell them to." That wasn't very reassuring. He pulled his sword out of the grass and the Inferius sank back into the ground.  
"He's a necromancer," Apollo explained and some of the students had the same reaction as I did when Apollo first told me.  
"That's illegal!" Someone shouted but Nico chuckled.  
"That's black magic!"  
"Hold your comments for later," Professor Apollo said, silencing the crowd. "Orange can set things on fire without even touching it." To prove his point, Orange waved his arm in a circle, causing fire to erupt around the outside of the circle of students. It died down after a moment. We were all terrified.  
"Blue can control poison and heal." Apollo took the sword the Black was still holding and swung it, causing a gash to appear on Percy's chest. Everyone gasped as Blue fell to his knees. He put his hands to his chest and when he removed them, they were covered in red.  
As he fell onto his side, I felt my feet get wet and I looked down to see water was moving towards Blue. The puddle of blood around him was quickly washed away and after a few moments, he stood up, perfectly fine again.  
No one said anything. We were all in shock.  
"He can summon hurricanes, breath under water, create water out of nothing, cause earthquakes and can not be burned by fire. These types of wizards are incredibly powerful and they should not be taken lightly. Some even have abilities that equal the unforgivable curses. Hermione," the professor said and looked at me. "What is an Unforgivable Curse?"  
"The Imperius Curse," I said and he nodded.  
"And what does that do?"  
"It forces the victim to obey every command of the caster," I said loudly so the school could hear me.  
"Well, here's Pink," Professor Apollo said as he gestured to the person clad in pink.  
She took a step forward. "Everyone, look at me and listen!" I found myself unable to look away. "Everyone, hold hands with the people next to you." I moved my arms and gripped hands with Ron and some Ravenclaw boy who was probably in his second year, causing him to blush. I didn't even mean to move my hands, I just did.  
"Jump up and down." Everyone did as she said. "Stop and release hands." We did. "This is like an extreme game of Simons says. You will do anything that I tell you do. If I told you to kill yourself or to kill your friends, you would. You would have no choice."  
A scared murmur went out across the crowd.  
"Neville," Professor Apollo said, pointing at the brown haired boy who was on the other side of the circle from me. "Name another curse and tell everyone what it does."  
"The Cruciatus Curse. It puts the victim thorough excruciating pain."  
"You are correct. Black?" Apollo asked, facing the figure. "What are you able to do?"  
"I can control your bones, breaking them, moving them, doing as I please." That was terrifying.  
"Will you demonstrate?" Professor asked and Black shook his head.  
"No, I will not. I will only do it when I have to."  
"That's what I thought. Now, Draco," the professor said, looking at the Slytherin boy, "What's the final Unforgivable Curse?"  
"The Killing Curse," Malfoy answered back carefully. "It kills the person instantly."  
"Correct, Black? What can you do?"  
"If need be, I can forcibly turn someone into a ghost and banish their soul. Before you ask, I will not demonstrate."  
Professor Apollo nodded, turning away from the hooded figures who stood in a line.  
"Elemental wizards are very powerful. They are warriors. They are also masters at defeating things of the from the Dark Arts. Any questions?"  
"Isn't Black basically the definition of the Dark Arts? How can he defeat what he is?" A boy from Ravenclaw called.  
"Black?" Apollo asked.  
"My magic is not what you consider a 'Dark Art.' Dark arts contain black magic, and that may be what my magic looks like, but it is not. It is Dark Magic. It's a natural evil."  
"Please show us," Apollo said and the figure nodded. As a cloud passed in front of the sun, Nico disappeared.  
"Umbraportation!" A voice shouted and everyone turned towards the voice. He was behind the crowd, just standing there. Then he disappeared again and reappeared on the other side of the circle. "It is an inherited ability! I can travel through shadows and control them." As he said that, he appeared in the center of the circle again. Everyone's shadow moved away from him or her, heading towards Nico. "They belong to me." After a moment he waved his hand and our shadows retuned to us.  
"They're powers should scare you," Professor Apollo told us, "But the wizards themselves should not. They are not their powers. They are not dark or evil. They are just like you and I. They look no different and they act no different. The Elemental Wizards will not hurt you unless you strike first. They are not a danger to anyone unless their lives or their friends' lives are threatened." Apollo turned towards Nico and nodded. He took a step out of line.  
"I have one last power. I can travel through dreams." As Black said that, everyone fell to the ground, himself included.  
I saw a hooded figure in my dream. "You wizards have no reason to fear us. We are not here to hurt you. Your professor will be teaching you about us during your schooling this year. He's teaching you how we fight. How we survive. How we kill.  
"Each and every one of you will be taught the basics of hand-to-hand combat and things that involve weapons like archery and sword fighting. I suggest that you pay attention in class so you can learn about our lifestyles and how to survive without wands. I wish you good luck."  
When we woke up, the hooded figures were gone.


	13. Chapter 13

Harry's POV

We had Divination for the first time this year today. Hermione kept reminding us how Professor Trelawney is a fraud and how Divination is stupid and an insult to her intelligence.  
We ignored her because it was an easy credit.  
"I wonder who's going to die this year," Ron said and Nico and Percy looked both confused and concerned.  
"Die? What are you talking about?" Nico asked, oddly worried.  
"Every year the professor predicts the death of a student," Ron explained.  
"Who was it last year?"  
"Me," I told them and I shrugged, "But I'm still alive."  
"Obviously," Nico said and rolled his eyes while Percy chuckled.  
We climbed up the ladder and when we got into the classroom, we saw tables that sat two people with teacups and teapots on them.  
"This is how it started last year," I explained. "She read my tea leaves and-." Professor Trelawney walked out from behind a curtain before I could finish talking.  
"Welcome to Divination. Everyone take a seat. Please know that this class is not for everyone as not everyone has the inner eye." She looked across the class, her eyes stopping on Percy.  
Her body stiffened and she walked towards him, almost unwillingly. Percy looked as confused as everyone felt.

"Seven half-bloods shall answer the call.  
To storm or fire, the world must fall.  
An oath to keep with a final breath,  
And foes bear arms to the Doors of Death."

Percy looked at Nico in shock, but he didn't notice. He was staring at Professor Trelawney with interest in his eyes while Percy looked beyond worried.  
"What the bloody hell was that?" Ron asked in confusion. Everyone was staring at the Professor as she started at Percy.  
After a few moments, she shook her head, coming out of her trance.  
"How did you know that prophecy?" Percy asked slowly and she looked at him in confusion.  
"What prophecy?" When he didn't answer she walked back to the front of the class. "Today we will be looking into the future, so everyone pour a cup of tea!" We did as she said, but we still didn't know what had just happened. She had sprouted a prophecy, much like she did to me last year. She didn't even remember doing it.  
After a few minutes, everyone was opening their books, reading their partners tealeaves and trying to find the matching symbols in the book.  
I looked at Ron who was sitting across from me. "So, I see something that looks like a horse shoe, so it means that your going to have good luck." Ron nodded at what I said, clearly pleased.  
"That's good. I don't see a Grimm in yours this year, so we don't have to worry about you dying this time," he said and we both chuckled, but were stopped shortly by a curt scream.  
I quickly looked at the professor who was standing at Percy and Nico's table. Neither of them looked worried, they looked more interested than anything. The whole class was watching what was happening.  
"The Reaper," She shouted as she threw the teacup away from her and looked at Nico. "You have death in your soul! You have been cursed!"  
Nico put his hand over his heart and faked shock. It almost seemed like he had won a prize.  
"Death? Me? Really? Oh my, I never thought I would've been picked! That you so much!" Nico shook the Professor's hand, as if excepting him prize before standing up and walking out of the classroom, muttering something along the lines of, "Even Octavian's and his dumbass teddy bears are better than this."  
We were all shocked and confused. Nico's death had just been predicted and he acted like it was nothing. That's really weird. He should've been freaking out like I was.  
Professor Trelawney picked up the cup from where Nico was sitting before hastily throwing back down, looking at Percy.  
"You have the Grimm," she said and Percy stifled a chuckled.  
"What's the Grimm?" he asked, mocking her tone. No one seemed to find this as funny as he did, which worried him. He looked around, concerned. "Wait, what's the Grimm? Why is everyone acting so weird?"  
"Harry got it last year," Seamus explained.  
"But what is it?"  
"It's a giant black dog that represents death," I said.  
Percy's face was blank for a second before he burst out laughing. Why was he laughing? Why weren't he and Nico taking this seriously?  
"A giant black dog? Really? This class is bullshit," Percy laughed before grabbing his and Nico's stuff, following in Nico's footsteps and walking out of the classroom, still laughing. He stopped at the doorway and looked at the professor.   
"If you would've just stopped after the prophecy, I might've taken you seriously. But a Reaper? A Grimm? You have no idea what those even mean. Don't think that you just predicted my and Nico's deaths, because you didn't. You just told us everything that we already knew." With that, he left.  
After a few minutes of silence, Seamus spoke.  
"What the bloody hell just happened?"

 

 

Percy's POV

I met up with Nico at the bottom of the ladder and handed him his stuff.  
"How did you know I would be coming out?" I asked and he shrugged.  
"I saw the Grimm in your cup and I know that Trelawney would make a big deal out of it."  
"It's just a big, black dog," I told him and he nodded. "It's literally Mrs. O'Leary." We both chuckled.  
"But how did she know about the Great Prophecy?" Nico asked and I shrugged.  
"Let's go ask Apollo."  
"Doesn't he have a class?"  
"Ehhh, he can make time for us."  
Nico and I headed down the stairs and after about five minutes of walking, we arrived at Apollo's classroom. Nico was polite enough to knock on the door before we entered.  
"Come in!" A voice sang.  
When we walked into the classroom full of second years, we saw Apollo sitting cross-legged on his desk. A piece of chalk was writing everything he was saying on the blackboard. I couldn't see what it said because everything was swimming around, but I saw some pretty impressive drawing. They were of swords, arrows and a bunch of other weapons with parts of them labeled.  
"Percy, Nico, I'll be with you in a second," he said as he slid off his desk and faced his class. "Alright, you guys finished labeling and drawing as best as you can while I go talk to them. Be right back."  
He started walking to his office and motioned for us to follow him. As soon as the door closed, he snapped his finger and he changed.  
Apollo de-aged about five years, his hair got a little longer and his clothes changed from robes to a tank top, ripped jeans and converses. "Man, I miss looking hot," Apollo said as he chuckled and looked at me. "You probably miss being over six foot, don't you?" he teased and I sighed.  
"Yeah, I do. Being short is a pain," I said and Nico huffed.  
"It's not that bad," he complained and the god and I chuckled.  
"Well, I know you guys didn't come to see me in all my glory, so go for it. Ask away."  
"Trelawney recited the Great Prophecy of Seven. How did she even know that?" Nico asked and Apollo just shrugged.  
"She's a legacy of mine, very far down the line. She knows nothing of the gods. She thinks she gets her 'inner eye' from her grandma on her moms side, not from her father family, which is good."  
"Will she be able to figure out we're demigod?" I asked and the god held up a finger and shut his eyes. After a moment, there was a slight breeze and he looked at us.  
"Nope, not anymore. I blocked her 'gift' for the rest of the school year."  
"Why didn't you do that sooner?" I asked and Apollo shrugged again.  
"Because I knew that she would say something and it would cause you guys to come see me. I could tell that Ms. Granger was starting to get suspicious last year when I would constantly hold you back in class to talk to you about the tasks, so I thought I might try something different."  
"You know what the third task is?" I asked and he nodded.  
"Yep, and you have nothing to worry about."  
"What is it?" Nico pressed.  
"It's a full blown hand-to-hand, weapon-to-weapon competition."  
That confused me. "How will the wizards even stand a chance against me?"  
"Because we're going to teach them to fight."

 

Ron's POV

After dinner that night, Percy and Nico said that had something they needed to tell us, which was good, because Harry, Hermione and I had some questions for them.  
The five of us were sitting on the floor of our bedroom.  
"Okay, so I have information about the third task," Percy started. "Hermione made me promise to tell you guys all the information, but to be honest, Harry," he said and looked at my friend, "I'm going to kick your ass."  
"What's the task?" Harry asked and Percy and Nico smiled.   
"Fighting with and without weapons," Nico said and Harry paled.  
"But I don't know how to do that! I don't think anyone here does except for you two!"  
"Professor Apollo is going to be teaching everyone in a club."  
"Like the dueling club back in second year?" I asked, not realizing they weren't here then.  
"Sure?" Percy said, confused and Nico just shrugged.  
"Ron, they weren't here then," Hermione said as she slapped the back of my head and then looked at the American's. "We have some questions for you."  
"When don't you?" Percy muttered and Hermione glared at them.  
"I heard about what happened in Divination," she said and the two boys nodded.  
"Yeah, we found out that Trelawney is a fraud like you said," Nico said, trying to dodge the question, but Hermione wasn't having it.  
"I'm talking about the Reaper, the Grimm and the prophecy."  
"She didn't tell us anything that we didn't already know," Percy said, putting his hands up in defense.  
"You already knew about the Grimm?"  
"I have a giant black dog as a pet."  
"What? Really? How?" I asked and he shrugged.  
"She had a little accident with an engorment charm."  
"What about you, Nico. Did you already know about the Reaper? About having death in your soul?"  
"Yeah, I was cursed at birth."  
Hermione seemed upset about their answers for some reason. "We know you're lying. We know you're Elemental Wizards."  
Percy and Nico stiffened. "No we aren't, why would you say that?" Percy said, lying.  
"Two were in the blue and black cloaks when the Elemental Wizards visited," Harry said and Percy and Nico shook their heads.  
"No, we weren't."  
Hermione let out a frustrated sigh. "Let's try this again. When the guest came, you two were apart of the group of Elemental Wizards," she stated, daring them to disagree.  
They both sighed and slumped their shoulders. "How did you know?" Nico asked and Hermione smiled, proud of herself that she broke them down.  
"Professor Apollo told us, but he told us not to tell anyone otherwise he would expel us. We all agreed not to say anything to you guys because we didn't know if we were allowed to, but I wanted to hear the truth about Divination."  
"Who all is 'us?'" Percy asked.  
"Is it just you three?" Nico added and we shook our heads.  
"It's the three of us, Fred, George, Ginny and Neville," I explained.  
Their eyes widened. "They all know?" we nodded.  
"And you're all okay with it?" Percy asked and we nodded again.  
"What else did Apollo say?" Nico asked, curious.  
"He told us what your powers had to deal with and that his own had to do with light."  
"He said that he was an Elemental Wizard?" Percy asked, leaning forward.  
"Yeah, why do you ask?" She questioned, trying to catch Percy off guard.  
He just shrugged. "No reason. I just didn't think he would tell you. I don't think anyone besides Dumbledore and the people Apollo told know about us being Elemental."  
"Well don't worry. We won't tell anyone," Harry reassured and after a moment, Hermione spoke.  
"So to kind of change the topic back to Divination, what about prophecy? I get Nico knowing he has death in his soul because he can raise dead people-."  
"Which is really awesome," I interjected and Hermione just rolled her eyes.  
"-But from what it sounds like, you already knew the prophecy."  
"We did," Percy said simply.  
"What happened?" Hermione pressed but the two boys just shook their heads.  
"We don't want to talk about it."  
And that was that.


	14. Chapter 14

Percy's POV

Today was the day of the first fighting club of the year and I was both excited and dreading it. I was excited because I get to sword fight, but I was dreading it because I was going to be with a bunch of beginners, not including Nico.  
Nico nudged me as we walked into a room I'd never been in before.  
"Apollo just told me that one of us is dueling him," he whispered and I groaned.  
"You can do it, but can you tell him that I have a revenge plan for someone?" I asked and my cousin smiled.  
"He already knows."  
After everyone was here, and it was most of the school that came, we began.  
"Hello students!" Apollo called from a raised platform about the size of a boxing ring. "I have gotten permission for the Ministry of Magic to start a fighting club. It will be similar to the dueling club you had two years ago, but instead of fighting with wands, you will be fighting by hand or with weapons. We have been talking about this in Defense Against the Dark Arts. Class is the time for discussing the techniques, but this is the time we will practice."  
Everyone started whispering about that and I heard Harry say something like, "Has anyone noticed that Professor Apollo looks a lot like Lockhart?"  
"With some help, I will prepare you for an attack with weapons a-." he was cut off by a Slytherin.  
"Why would we be attacked by weapons?"  
"Well, because not all wizards use wands. Do you remember the Elemental Wizards that visited us a few weeks ago, Mr. Zabini?" the boy nodded. "They use weapons, not wands. If you stay in this club, you will learn to fight like them. Does anyone else have any pointless questions?" Apollo asked, daring the students to say anything. "Very well. Di Angelo, I believe that you were trained in the art of sword fighting at your old school, so why don't you come up here and help me demonstrate?"  
"It would be my pleasure," Nico said as he pushed his way to the stage.  
"Please pick your weapon," Apollo said as he gestured to a rack of weapons that had just appeared. Nico looked at the rack for a second before a black sword caught his eye. Apollo just grabbed a normal, four-foot sword and went to the ready position. "Go!" he shouted and the fight started.  
I would like to say that the fight lasted for more than five minutes, like Nico's and mine had a few weeks ago, but I would be lying. In less than three minutes, Nico had his sword to the god's throat from behind and announced his death.  
"Dead!" he shouted and chuckled, obviously proud at himself for besting a god.  
"He can't do that," Hermione called, concerned. "He's a teacher."  
Nico heard and chuckled again, moving his sword away from Apollo's throat. "A dead teacher."  
"I seem to be out of practice," Apollo stated and Nico shrugged.  
"I'm sure if we did archery you would be the best here."  
Apollo nodded in agreement and turned to face the group of students.  
"As some of you have seen and have probably all heard, Mr. di Angelo and Mr. Jackson are very skilled in all forms of fighting. Percy, please pick a partner and show everyone hand-to-hand combat."  
I smiled, knowing that my plan was working. I sent Apollo a quick thank you prayer as walked up to the stage as Nico walked down. I knew the he heard because he smiled and chuckled as I faced the crowd. "Winston Erickson," I called out and a murmur went out across the hall. Everyone was looking around, trying to find Winston. "Come on up, I won't hurt you," I said with a smirk on my face that basically announced that I was lying. After a minute or two, Winston pushed his way through the crowd.  
Once he got up on the stage, I put up his fists. "Now, a big guy like you probably knows how to fight," I teased. "But so do I, so don't hold back. Gods know I'm not going to. Apollo," I called, looking at my older cousin. "You're the ref."  
Apollo smiled and nodded. "Shake hands," he said and he did. "Ready...Fight!"

 

Nico's POV

Gods, Winston is probably going to die. When Percy called out his name, I could see the poor boy freaking out, but as he walked on stage, he tried to hold his head high.  
As soon as the fight started, I could see Percy was playing with him.  
The first thing the bully did was try to punch Percy. Try. Percy knocked his arm away half a second before it hit him in the eye. Percy was smiling like a mad man and the hall cheered the fight on.  
"Bitch please, do you really think you can land a punch on me?" He asked before punching Winston in the stomach. "Hey, that kind of rhymed!" he said and I chuckled. Gods, I had a crush on an idiot.  
Long story short, Percy beat the shit out of Winston, but that kid deserved it. He got his collarbone bruised if not cracked, and gods know what the state of his ribs were. Perce kept sending jabs and kicks to his ribcage and Winston could barely lift his arms.  
After about five minutes, Percy decided to take pity on the poor boy.  
He quickly got behind him and dead legged him, causing him to fall to the ground on his hands and knee's. Percy reached down from behind him and grabbed his arm, pulling his wrist far over his head and placing his over hand on his elbow. The cheering had stopped as everyone watched and listened to what Percy was about to say.  
"If you ever say anything that hurts my friends or family again, I won't hurt you. I'll kill you," Percy said as he forcefully pushed down with one of his hands, snapping Winston's elbow. The bully's screams and the sickening crack from the bone were echoing around the now silence hall.  
"At least you still have your hand," Percy whispered to Winston, but he was still loud enough for the people by the stage to hear.  
Everyone was silent as Percy hopped off the stage and walked out of the hall, me following behind him.


	15. Chapter 15

Harry's POV

I woke up to Ron shaking me.  
"Harry, wake up! Today's the day!" he shouted. I sat up and rubbed my eyes. I looked around the room and saw the curtains of Percy and Nico's bed still drawn.  
"Why are you waking me up?" I asked, annoyed. Today was an important day and I needed as much sleep as I could get.  
"So we can go get breakfast and eat in peace," he told me and pulled me so I was standing up. "You can get dressed later," he said and we walked out of the room, hopefully not waking Percy or Nico up in the process.  
There were only ten other people in the Great Hall eating, one of which was Cedric. We nodded at each other, basically saying 'Good luck.' I hadn't told him about this challenge, but I've seen him practicing during Professor Apollo's fighting club, so I know that he knows what the task is and if he knows, he would've told Cho who would've told Penelope and Hannah, so at least three fourth's of the contesters would know what we would be doing. The only one's that I wasn't sure if they knew were the Slytherin, but knowing Malfoy, his dad would've figured out and told him.  
"How have your practices with Percy been going?" Ron asked as we sat down at the empty Gryffindor table.  
"It's been going pretty good, actually. He told me that if I go up against him, he'll try not to hurt me, but he won't take any pity on me and let me win."  
"I wouldn't expect him too," Ron said as he filled up his plate and I did the same.  
"Do you think I have a shot at second place?" I asked and Ron sat in thought for a moment.  
"I don't know about second, but I know you won't get last."  
"That's not very encouraging," I said and he chuckled.  
"Just being honest."

 

 

Ron's POV

At about nine, McGonagall came and collect Harry and Percy so they could get ready for the task.  
At eleven, the school was pushing their way to the front of the school where the stands were. They had to be rebuilt since one of the dragons had broken it a few months ago.  
My idiot brothers were going around taking bets and Hermione, Nico, Neville and myself were in the front row.  
The arena wasn't rocky like it was with the dragons. It was flat, mostly grass but some patch's of dirt. I saw a rack full of weapons like what Apollo had at the club, but there was a larger verity here.  
At eleven thirty, Dumbledore walked to the middle of the arena and put his wand to his throat.  
"Hello everyone! Today is February 14th, the day of the third task of the Wizard Tournament!" Everyone cheered. "There will be weapon-to-weapon first and then hand-to-hand combat second. I hope the contesters have been participating in Professor Apollo's club, otherwise we might see some bloodshed." We cheered again. I was fine with seeing bloodshed, as long as it wasn't Harry. Percy could heal with his awesome waterpower’s, so he would be fine. Probably.  
"Fighting with weapons will take place first. There is only one rule and that's to not kill one another. If someone does die, the person they were fighting will take last place in this task! The fights will be in this order! Penelope Clearwater verses Hannah Abbott. Theodore Nott verses Harry Potter. Cho Chang verses Draco Malfoy. Cedric Diggory verses Percy Jackson." People cheered and whooped as the person from their house was called.  
Not long after, the fights started.

 

 

Nico's POV

To be honest, I didn't really pay attention. The fights at Camp Half-Blood and the War Games at Camp Jupiter were way more entertaining and violent. Here, everyone would gasp every time a weapon would hit a person, even though they were wearing armor. Seeing the wizards in armor was really funny because they all walked weird, except for Percy.  
I wasn't worried about this task because I knew that Percy could handle himself against a bunch of amateurs. It's not like he was fighting a dragon.  
I knew that everyone was worried about fighting Percy because they had seen what he did to Winston a few weeks ago and the fight between Percy and I at the beginning of the year.  
When the second round began, I started paying attention. The first fight was Harry verses Penelope and surprisingly Penelope won. The second fight was Percy against Draco and unsurprisingly, Percy won.  
The finals were pretty interesting and ending with Percy flipping Penelope over his shoulder and announcing her death as he pointed his sword at her face.  
I could tell that Percy was enjoying the one rule of 'don't kill anyone' because he wasn't holding back. He wasn't fighting dirty, but he wasn't going easy.  
The hand-to-hand fighting took place next and Professor Dumbledore once again came into the middle of the arena to announce the fights.  
"In one hour, we will continue with this task!" he said with his wand to his throat and everyone groaned, not wanting to have to wait. "The fighters need to be healed and get some rest before they can continue! Anyways, on to more important matters. The next fights will be hand-to-hand. The rules are the same. No killing otherwise you will get last place for this task! The fights will be Penelope Clearwater verses Theodore Nott. Cho Chang verses Cedric Diggory. Percy Jackson verses Hannah Abbot and lastly, Harry Potter verses Draco Malfoy! Now entertain yourself for one hour!"  
"Well what are we supposed to do?" Neville asked and we shrugged.  
"I'm going to go see Percy," I said and I got up and left. Hermione, Ron and Neville were following me, probably heading to see Harry.  
Five minutes later, I was in the tent full of wizards getting healed.  
I walked over to my cousin as the people following me walked over to see Harry who had a gash on his arm from Penelope, but the nurse was healing him, so he'll be fine by the time of the next fight.  
"Yo," I said when I saw Percy who had his back to me. He turned around and when he saw me he smiled and pulled me into a hug.  
"Hey Neeks!" he said and I tried to push his away.  
"Get off me, you're all sweaty," I said but he just hugged me harder. I sighed and hugged him back, enjoying is a lot.  
"Did you like my fight?" he asked as he let go of me.  
"Yeah, but it didn't seem like it was that challenging," I said and he chuckled and shook his head.  
"It wasn't, but it was pretty fun. I'm excited to show off my hand-to-hand skills."  
"Everyone's already seen them during the fighting club. I'm sure Hannah's about to piss herself since she has to fight you."  
Percy and I turned to look for the brown haired girl and found her in the opposite corner, staring at Percy in fear. He lifted up his hand and nicely waved at her, which made her eyes grow wider.  
"You're going to kick her ass, aren't you?" I asked as we turned away from the poor girl. Percy chuckled again.  
"Yeah, but I'm going to do it gently."  
"Like the gentleman you are."

 

 

Harry's POV 

After Ron, Hermione and Neville had left, I went over to Percy who had gotten done talking to Nico. Penelope and Theodore's fight had just started and I was getting worried, again.  
"You know, if I beat Malfoy, I'm going to have to fight you," I told him and he nodded.  
"Yeah, and I'm not going to let you win," he said and I chuckled.  
"I wouldn't expect you too. I'm just hoping that you don't bruise me to much." Percy smiled and shook his head.  
"I wouldn't dream of it. You're my friend Harry. I don't hurt my friends."  
"You hurt Nico," I said and he shook his head again.  
"That's different. I've known his for years and he can take care of himself in a fight."  
"Cedric! Cho! You're up!" someone shouted, interrupting out conversation. We saw Penelope walk back into the tent, victorious.  
"Man, she's tough," Percy said and I nodded.  
"She's in Ravenclaw. She probably memorized fighting strategies and studied everyone's fighting skills during Apollo's club," I said and I swear that I saw Percy look upset for a moment. "Are you okay?" I asked and he shrugged.  
"Yeah, it's just I had a girlfriend who used to do that," he said and changed the topic. "Do you remember what I taught you?" he asked and I nodded. "Good, because you're just about up."

*****

I had ended up hurting Draco's wrist and winning the fight, much to his displeasure. Percy had beaten Hannah in what was probably the nicest way possible. Cedric had fought Penelope and won, which means that he'll be fighting whoever won the fight between Percy and I.  
Who was I kidding? Percy was going to win and there was no question about it. He had been training one-on-one with me for the past six weeks, but I was still a novice.  
Percy and I were talking up until we walked out of the tent. He kept reassuring me that he wasn't going to hurt me, but I wasn't so sure. I was there when Percy broke Winston's arm and he had promised him that he wasn't going to hurt him.  
By the time the fight started, I was about to piss myself.  
Percy ended up keeping his promise and I ended up with nothing more than a few scraps from falling, and some bruised knuckles from when Percy gave me an opening and told me to punch him in the face.  
He took the punch like a man, and after about three minutes, he dead legged me, got on top of me and I surrendered with his fist above my face.  
As soon as I said the words, he smiled, got up off of me and helped me to my feet.  
The referee had us shake hands before we both headed back to the tent where we were to get healed.  
Professor Apollo walked up to Percy and gave him some sort of drink and a pat on the back before sending him back to the arena to fight Cedric in the finals.  
"How are you, Harry?" Apollo asked and I laid down in a cot, waiting for Madame Pomfrey to heal me.  
"I'm better than I would've been if Percy hadn't taken it easy on me," I said and he chuckled.  
"Of course he did. He could never hurt one of his friends."  
"You said something like that when the Elemental Wizards came to visit," I said, remembering that day. "You said something along the lines of, 'They won't hurt you if you don't hurt them or their friends.'"  
"And that's true," Apollo said, nodding. "If someone tried to hurt you, Percy would attack them. He would kill them if necessary." That shocked me.  
"Kill?" he nodded again.  
"Percy will do anything to protect his friends. Nico is the same." I thought about that, and one question kept coming to mind.  
"Have Percy and Nico killed someone before?"  
Apollo chose his next words carefully. "Only when they had to. I told you about how Salem had a war last year, right?" He asked and I nodded for him to continue. "Percy and six other half bloods lead the war. They did what was necessary to win."  
"What about Nico? Was he one of the six half blood?" I asked and the professor shook his head.  
"No, he had another task. He helped stop a civil war from happening at Salem. He almost died in the process."  
"How?"  
"How did he stop the war or how did he almost die?" Apollo asked as he raised an eyebrow. I shrugged.  
"Both, I guess."  
"He helped return something that stopped the war, but in doing so, he almost die. He overused his powers and almost started coming apart at an molecular level."  
"What?" I asked. Coming apart at a molecular level? That didn't sound possible.  
"Actually, I can answer that in the form of a haiku," he said before he cleared his throat.  
"He lost to the dark  
He became how he traveled  
He became shadows."  
That didn't help my confusion at all. It just made it worse.  
As Apollo was done talking, there was intense cheering, which meant that the match was done. As Cedric and Percy walked into the tent, Apollo looked at me. "For their sanity, do not question Percy and Nico about the war unless it's absolutely, one hundred percent necessary."  
Percy walked up to Apollo with a bloody smile on his face and a busted lip.  
"A little help," he said as he moved his hand from his shoulder and I almost threw up.  
"Come over here, dumbass," Apollo said and I was shocked. A teacher just called a student a dumbass. That's not supposed to happen.  
"What happened?" I asked. Percy's shoulder was freaky looking and I didn't understand how he was staying so calm.  
"Nothing, he just dislocated his shoulder," Apollo said and he had Percy stand in front of a wall and put his hand on his shoulder. With a strong push, it popped into place. Percy flinched but that was it.  
"You should probably go help Cedric," Percy told the teacher. "I think I knocked one of his teeth out."  
Apollo nodded and went to help the Hufflepuff.


	16. Chapter 16

Harry's POV

I woke up to someone shaking me.  
"Harry, are you alright?" Percy asked as I sat up and he handed me my glasses.  
"Yeah, I'm fine," I said as I put my glasses on.  
"You were having a nightmare," he said as he shook his head, doubting my previous answer. I just sort of shrugged, unsure of what to say. "Do you want to talk about it?" He asked and I shrugged again.  
He took that as a yes and got up from where he was beside my bed and motioned for me to follow him as he walked out of the room. I got out of my bed, put on my slipper and followed him.  
When we sat down on the couch, he said, "I didn't want to wake Ron and Nico."  
"Yeah, Ron's really grouchy when he doesn't get him sleep," I said and he chuckled and nodded in agreement.  
"I know."  
We sat there in comfortable silence for a few minutes before Percy started talking again.  
"What was your dream about?" he asked and I thought for a moment for how to answer.  
"I was in a graveyard," I started slowly. I hadn't shared this dream with anyone other than Sirius, Ron and Hermione. "Then I somehow ended up in this old house with the guy that tried to kill me last year, Voldemort and some other weird guy." I didn't know why I was telling Percy this, but I felt like I could trust him since I've known him for about six months. "They're talking and then they notice me and it ends with them hitting me with the Killing Curse."  
Percy was nodding as I spoke, thinking. "Guy who tried to kill you last year?"  
"Yeah, it's a long story."  
"What's the shortened version of it?"  
"A guy pretended to be Ron's rat for twelve years and then tried to kill me last year, but our old DADA teacher and my uncle saved me."  
Percy gave me a look that said I sounded like I was crazy.  
"That's fucked up."  
"It is."  
After a moment, he went back to the previous conversation. "How long have you been having nightmares?"  
"Ever since before the Quidditch World Cup, but it's always to same one."  
"Why then?" Percy asked, his eyebrows coming together in confusion.  
"I don't know," I said and shrugged. "Maybe because of the attack?"  
"What attack?" he asked, furrowing his eyebrows more.  
"The Death Eater attack," I stated and Percy just shook his head, not knowing what I was talking about. "It happened right a few days before you and Nico showed up at the Weasley's place," I informed him. "You really don't remember?"  
"I was in America then."  
"But it was all we talked about for before school started and it was the topic of every conversation for the first few weeks of school." Percy just shook his head, completely unaware of what I was talking about. "The Dark Mark appeared in the sky," I said, trying to jog his memory but he just got more confused.  
"What's the Dark Mark?"  
"It's Voldemort's Mark and his followers have it tattooed on their forearms."  
"Ohhhh," he said, finally understanding something. "That's what you guys' thought Nico and I had tattooed."  
"Yeah," I said nodding. Percy looked quite proud to have gotten that right. After a moment I remembered something that Sirius had asked me to do in a letter not that long ago. "So, what are you and Nico doing for Easter Break?"  
Percy shrugged. "I don't know, whatever Nico wants. Maybe go back to America or stay here, I'm not really sure."  
"Do you want to spend it with Hermione, the Weasley's, myself and some other people at one of my relatives house?"  
Percy jumped as if he had heard a loud noise before he nodded. "Yeah, that seems like that would be fun."  
Sirius and Remus had asked me to invite Percy and Nico over for Easter so they could meet the 'so-called 'Elemental Wizards.''  
I knew that I wasn't supposed to tell anyone about Percy and Nico being Elemental Wizards or about the war, but what Professor Apollo doesn't know won't hurt him.  
"Does you scar hurt?" Percy asked as he pointed at my hand that was rubbing my forehead. I hadn't even realized I was doing that.  
"Ummm, yeah, it has been since the nightmares started."  
"Have you told anyone?"  
"Just Ron, Hermione and my Uncle."  
Percy tensed up again out of nowhere for a second, almost as if someone else had started talking and startled him, but he relaxed after a moment.  
"Maybe you should tell Dumbledore?" he suggested.  
I gave him a confused look. "Why would he care?" I asked and he shrugged.  
"I don't know, but the things he likes to know are always surprising."  
I thought about it for a moment before nodding. "Yeah, he'd probably have something to say about it. I'll go see if he's awake. How about you go back to bed?" I suggested and he nodded.  
"Okay," he said, getting up from the couch and heading up to the dormitory as I headed to the door. "See you in the morning."  
"Good night."

 

 

Nico's POV

Percy and I walked into the DADA classroom and were confused with what we saw. It looked pretty normal, all the chairs were pushed to the side like always, but in the back of the classroom, there was a chest. It kept moving slightly, shaking. That hadn't been there the other day.  
"What's that?" I asked and Hermione answered as she walked into the room.  
"I believe it's a boggart. We faced them last year. They show your greatest fear."  
"Last year, mine was spiders. It's probably hasn't changed though," Ron added.  
"Mine was dementors, but I faced it and I'm not afraid of them anymore," Harry informed us. "I wonder what it's going to be now?"  
Once everyone was in the classroom, Apollo got his students attention and started talking.  
"Today, we are facing our greatest fear! You guys did something a lot like this last year, but this time, it has a twist! You will be facing a boggart, but instead of saying Riddikulus, you have to talk to them, tell them that they aren't real. You have to face them head on and get them back into the chest. Many of you will have more than one. I will go first to demonstrate."  
Apollo waved his wand and the box opened. A ten-year-old girl with auburn hair stepped out, falling to the ground, just lying broken on the floor in a pool of ichor. It was Artemis. "You killed me, Apollo. You're the reason I'm dead," she said as tears poured down her face.  
The words didn't faze Apollo and he shook his head. "No, I didn't. You are perfectly fine. You are alive."  
The boggart changed. There were several bodies of teen with blonde hair and blue eyes lying on the floor. They calling out for Apollo to save them, but it didn't faze their father.  
"None of you are hurt. I saw you just last week. Will!" Apollo shouted, pointing to the image of my friend lying on the ground with one his arrows jammed into his throat, choking on his blood. "Right now your probably in the infirmary with Austin, Kayla and Victoria," he said, pointing to each of his children in turn. "You are not hurt, so pick yourself up, wipe yourself off and get out of here!" There were two bodies left.  
"Michael, Lee, you two are dead. You have no right to be here." Lee faded away and Michael stood up, pulled to arrow out of his side, dusted himself off and walked over to the box. As he stepped in, he flipped his father off. "Fuck you." Then the box closed and he was gone.  
"Everyone, get into a line!" Apollo shouted and we did as he said after getting over the shock of what we saw. Percy and I were about halfway in the line with Ron between us.  
Most people's fears were themselves dying, a friend, or a family member, which is to be expected. Some of them were clowns, monsters (which I found kind of funny) or they parents yelling at them, telling their children how they were a disappointment, like Draco's. He wasn't able to stand up to his dad and ended up walking out of the classroom.  
I wondered what mine was going to be? I really hoped it wasn't my dad because that would be hard to explain to Harry, Ron and Hermione who were no doubt going to question us about anything that Percy and I have to face.  
"Percy, your turn," Apollo said a little while later and Percy hesitantly stepped towards the box containing the boggart. I couldn't help but wonder what his would be? Would it be Annabeth, dead? Mrs. Sally being tortured? His father yelling at him?  
Apollo gave Percy a look, asking if he was ready and when he nodded, Apollo lifted the lid.  
A body stood out of the box, slowly but confidently. It wasn't one of Percy's friends like I thought it would be.  
I looked at Percy and saw him start shaking as he stared at the image of himself.  
The other Percy stepped out of the box and spoke in a voice that was a mixture of Percy's and something much more powerful.  
"This is a much better vessel than my last one. Luke was so weak. He could barely contain me, but you, you are so much more powerful than him." The boggart looked at Percy and smiled an evil smiled, and it actually scared me. "Look around," Evil Percy said and as he spread his arms, chuckling as the bodies of demigods filled the floor. "Look at what you did!" He yelled and Percy flinched.  
"You joined my side, you killed everyone who you held dear!" Evil Percy's eyes turned gold and I understood what I was looking at. It was Percy hosting Kronos. That was his greatest fear. Being a traitor. That made since, since his fatal flaw was loyalty.  
"No, I didn't!" Percy yelled but Kronos chuckled.  
"Maybe not yet, but you will."  
"No, I will not! I am not a traitor! You are not me! You are dead!"  
"I may be, but do you know who else is too?" Kronos shrunk a few inches, his eyes turned from sea green to storm gray. His hair grew, changing from short and black to blond and curly. Cuts appeared all over her body. Annabeth lifted her arms and showed Percy the chains on her wrists. I knew that this is what she looked like when she died.  
"You never saved me, Percy," she said in a soft voice and I saw Percy choke on the words he was about to say.  
"I tried, Annabeth. You know I did," he said after he contained himself. He may have come to peace with her death but that doesn't mean he didn't spend every day since then wishing he could have saved her.  
"But you didn't. You failed. You let them beat me, cut me, stab me. You did nothing!" As she talked, her voice raised, getting angrier and angrier.  
"I did everything!" Percy said, yelling at Annabeth for what was probably the first time. "I tried to stop them! You might not remember this, but I was there with you for every second of it! Everything they did to you, they did to me tenfold! I took as many of the punishments as I could. Don't say I let you die, because I didn't! I regret what happened everyday but there's nothing I can do about it now!" With each thing that Percy said, he took a step towards Annabeth, causing her to take a step back, closer to the chest.  
"Now you shut the fuck up and get into that chest!" He yelled, shoving Annabeth into the box, slamming the lid closed.  
The class was silent. Most people's reactions had been crying as they friends accused them of letting them die, but not Percy. They were shocked at his actions, and I was too. The wizards didn't know that Percy didn't have to imagine losing her, he already had.  
With everyone else they were seeing their friends died for the first time, but with Percy, his boggart was trying to make him relive what had already happened and it seemed like Percy wasn't going to put up with any of its shit.  
"Ron!" Apollo called, breaking the silence, "You're up!"  
Ron's fear wasn't spiders like he had been saying it was going to be. It was his family, Harry and Hermione dead, telling him it was all his fault. It took him a few minutes, but he ended up telling them to get their act together because they were fine and that the really Harry and Hermione were standing next to him. It was actually impressive and I was pretty proud of Ron. I never knew that he had it in him to stand up to his friends.  
Now, it was my turn.

 

 

Hermione's POV

I was standing over to the side of the line. I had already gone. My boggart was my parents blaming me for their deaths. Harry's was a Ron and I, and knowing that his biggest fear was losing Ron and myself made me feel loved.  
Percy's was very interesting. He was yelling at a beautiful blond girl who blamed her for his death. And his other fear was himself with glowing gold eyes. I would have to ask him about that later.  
After Ron had gone, Nico stepped up. He nodded at Professor Apollo and the chest opened.  
Fog poured out, filling the room, but no figure appeared which confused me. What was Nico's greatest fear? My question was answered when a voice spoke out.  
"Did you really think that you escaped?" A raspy voice whispered. "Did you really think that you were saved?" Nico started to shake, unable to talk. "Did you really think that they would've wasted their time to save a traitor like you?" It whispered and Nico shook his head.  
"You're not real."  
"Oh, but I am. I'm more really than you could ever imagine. The twins miss you so much. They miss watching you sit in that jar, lifeless, waiting to be save. But no one ever came." I looked over at Percy who was standing next to me, and I was going to ask him if he knew what this was, but I stopped halfway through my first word when I saw his pale face, wide eyes and shaking hands. Whatever this fear of Nico's was, it was Percy's too. He may not be the one in front of the chest, and what it was saying may not have been for him, but it effected Percy just the same.  
"It doesn't matter, I'm not there anymore," Nico said, but he didn't sound so confident.  
"But you should be. You never should have been saved. They never should've wasted their time getting you."  
What the voice said seemed to make Nico angry, causing him to forget about being scared. "They didn't waste any time when they saved me!" He yelled, no longer shaking in fear, but in anger. "They needed me!"  
"Only for the information that you possessed."  
"No, they needed me back because I am useful! They relied on me! Shut up!" The voice chuckled, but it faded away.  
When the fog cleared, Percy was standing there, which shocked me. One of his greatest fears was Percy? Why? I'll ask them about that later tonight.  
Percy reached an arm out towards Nico before he coughed up blood, felling to his knees, staring at Nico with tears in his eyes. Nico stared back.  
I looked over at the real Percy who was looking at Nico with a mix of confusion and shock. Apparently he didn't expect to be one of Nico's fears.  
Nico was staring at the dying Percy, unable to do anything. Percy fell to his stomach, and then laid there unmoving as a puddle of blood pooled around him.  
Neither of them said anything. The dead Percy didn't blame Nico for his death or call him any names and Nico didn't say anything to the corpse on the floor.  
After a minute or so of quiet whispering between students, the boggart changed form again. This time, Nico looked more terrified than before.  
It was a lean man with beautiful snow-white wings. He had a golden bow over his shoulder. The shocking thing about him was his eyes. They were red. He was handsome, but terrifying. He was so beautiful, it was hard to look at him.  
Wings and a bow? If I didn't know any better, I would say this was Cupid. Maybe it was love he was afraid of and this is the only form the boggart could take.  
"Tell him, Nico di Angelo. Tell him you are a coward, afraid of yourself and your feelings. Tell him the real reason you ran from camp, and why you are always alone," the man said and Nico looked like he was reliving the worst moment of his life. "The only way to conquer me is to face love."  
Nico looked and pointed at him and said, "No, fuck you."  
He turned around, walking away as the winged man shouted, "You are weak! You will never know love!" but Nico just told him to go fuck himself and walked out of the classroom.  
As soon as he was gone, the boggart changed the shape to fit the next person in line.

 

Ron's POV

The five of us were sitting in the Gryffindor Common Room later that night. It was around ten and we had out waited even the Seventh Years so we could be alone. Why we didn't just go up to our dormitory? I had no idea, but I didn't feel like arguing with Hermione.  
"You know what I'm going to ask," Hermione said to Percy and Nico and they sat up straighter on the couch that the two of them were hogging.  
"Yeah, but instead of just explaining thing and possibly missing things, how about you just ask anyways," Percy said and ran a hand through his hair. "Like you're always doing," he added quietly under his breath, but we all heard him.  
I knew that Hermione had been dying to ask Percy and Nico about their boggarts, and I'll admit, I was quite curious too. Nothing about those two boys was simple.  
"Why were you one of your own fears?" Hermione asked and Perce sort of shrugged, not really sure how to answer.  
"I guess that was me being a traitor. I'm a very loyal person and the thought of being the reason that my friends have died is terrifying to me."  
"That asked more questions than it answered," Hermione mumbled but we heard her.  
"Why do you mean?" I asked and she just looked at Percy.  
"You're friends have died. How? In the war?" Hermione asked and Harry and I glared at her.  
"Hermione!" Harry yelled, sounding angry. "Professor Apollo told us not to mention that!"  
Percy froze, his eyes wide. Nico was the one to talk. "If you're going to talk about the war, don't ask Percy. Ask me."  
"Okay," Hermione said, not as bothered as Harry and I about Percy's reaction to this topic. I knew that we should change it, but if Nico was willing to answer, she might as well ask her questions now.  
"What friends?"  
"Almost all of them," Nico answered with a blank expression. "I've never had as many friends as Percy so it wasn't as bad as I watched people die."  
"Apollo told Harry that you two have killed someone before," Hermione said and Nico gave her a dumbfounded expression.  
"We were in war," he said slowly. "What do you think we did? Arm wrestle?" Hermione looked slightly offended at Nico's response.  
"He also said that you guys would kill someone to protect me," Harry said, trying to get the attention off of Hermione.  
"We would."  
"Why?"  
"Because you're our friend."  
Harry looked oddly touched at that, and of course, Hermione ruined the moment and started to ask questions relentlessly.  
"Apollo said the Percy lead the war with six others, like the prophecy from Divination said."  
"He did, and only three of them are still alive," Nico answered simply. He looked at Percy and I followed his gaze.  
Percy seemed to be coming out of his trance that he was before. He no longer looked scared. He just looked sad now.  
"What about the civil war that you stopped?"  
"I returned something that had been missing that caused the feud in the first place."  
"Apollo said a weird poem thing that Harry can't remember." We looked at Harry who just shrugged. "It was something about you becoming shadows. What did it mean?"  
"I overused my gifts and I started to become a shadow myself. Do you have any more questions about the war?" Nico said, daring Hermione to ask another war-related question.  
She dared.  
"Just one. What was the war about? Who were you fighting? What were you fighting for?" Technically that was three questions but I wasn't going to be the one to point it out.  
"We were fighting to live," he said, not going into more detail and only answering one of the questions. "Now, if you're going to ask questions, don't have them relate to the war."  
Hermione changed back to the topic of the boggarts. Percy was expecting to be asked the questions, but Hermione still directed everything at Nico.  
"Why was yours a voice?" He stayed silent and didn't answer, neither did Percy. "What about the man with the wings?" Neither boy said anything but I saw Nico tense up. "What about when the voice mentioned 'the twins' and a jar?" As soon as she said 'the twins,' Nico stood up and walked away, shaking slightly.  
He must really not want to talk about that. If he can talk about a war and be fine, then he must really be afraid of that voice.  
Hermione turned to Percy and kept asking her questions, not stopping as Nico left.  
"Why was one of his fears you dying? You didn't blame him or anything, it was just you dying."  
"I honestly don't know. I thought it was going to be his father yelling at him or one of his sisters," Percy said, speaking for the first time since the war questions started.  
"Nico has sisters?"  
"Had. He had two sisters, but their both dead now."  
"How did they die?" Hermione asked, speaking in a softer voice. The harshness of her tone when she was asking questions earlier had left.  
"His full sister sacrificed herself for me and a few others and his half-sister was one of the ones who lead the war with me and didn't make it."  
"What were their names?"  
"Bianca di Angelo and Hazel Levesque."  
I cleared my throat, signaling that it was time for a change of topic because Percy started looking uncomfortable, probably because he was talking about Nico's personal life.  
"Can we talk about the girl you saw? The one that you yelled at?" Hermione asked, finally deciding the tread carefully.  
Percy hesitated before he nodded. "Yeah. What do you want to know?"  
"Who was she?"  
"She was my girlfriend," he said and I saw tears come to his eyes, but he quickly wiped them away.  
"Really?" Hermione asked softly. "What happened?"  
Percy answered that question with another question. "Do you remember way back when, when you asked me about how I got my scars?" He asked and we nodded.  
"You said 'Now is not the time,' or something like that," I said and this time he nodded.  
"Well, now's the time. I got my scars with her. We were held captive by the voice that you heard. Nico was held too, but at a different point in time and he was by himself. I had Annabeth."  
"Her name was Annabeth?" Hermione asked and Percy nodded.  
"Yeah."  
"What all happened?"  
"When we were held captive and tortured. We were beaten, cut, branded, whipped and whatever else you can think of, it happened to us," Percy said, talking softly. I was shocked. Not only by what happened to them but the fact that he was telling us. He and Nico normally tell us half-truths or change the topic, but not this time. This time he was being completely honest.  
"I took as many of her punishments as she would let me," he said and there was a pained look on his face, almost like he was remembering. "But eventually, she couldn't take it anymore. Her body just gave up on her and she fell limp in her chains." The first tear fell down Percy's face. I'd never seen him so sad. The only time I'd ever seen him cry was during his nightmares, which brought up a question.  
"Do you have nightmares about what happened?"  
He nodded sadly. "Yeah, but they've gotten less frequent as you can probably tell because I wake you up less."  
Hermione asked her next question carefully. "Can we see what..." Her question just kind of dropped out, but Percy got what she was saying.  
He got up off the couch, took off a few layers of his clothes and then pulled up the back of his undershirt, letting us see what was beneath it.  
"We saw some when you first showed up..." Harry started.  
"And when the dragon..." I added.  
"But we never..." Hermione finished and Percy pulled his shirt back down, covering the whip marks, brands, burns and what looked like claw marks. He was probably feeling self-conscious because we were staring at him in shocked.  
"What happened?" Hermione asked, emphasizing the second word.  
"I told you, I was tortured."  
"I know, but...how are you still alive? How did you escape?"  
"I used the water in the air to heal myself as much as I could so I could fight and Annabeth's death filled me with such rage, I was able to kill my captures and escape."  
After a minute of silence as we processed that, Hermione spoke again.  
"Couldn't you just heal?" She asked. "Like you did when Professor Apollo cut you with that sword?"  
Percy shrugged. "If I really wanted to, yeah, I could, but there are some memories you don't get rid of."  
"You want to remember getting tortured?"  
"I don't want to. I need to."  
"Why?" I asked, not knowing why anyone would want to remember that.  
"Because it's my last memories of Annabeth," he said and started heading to the stairs, signaling that he was done with this conversation. "Now, if you don't have any more questions, I'm going to bed."  
We told him goodnight and he headed up to the dormitory.  
The three of us sat in silence for a few minutes.  
"So Hermione," Harry said, turning towards her. "Do you have any more questions to bombard them with?"  
"Yes, actually, I do."  
"Why can't you just leave them alone?" He asked, sounding angry. "We've known them for months and they haven't done anything to make us doubt them!"  
Hermione just shrugged and I sunk into my chair, trying to stay out of the argument.  
"They didn't tell us that they were Elemental wizards," she said, trying to make a point. "They never told us that the truth potion wouldn't work on them. We don't know what else they're keeping from us!"  
"If their keeping something from us, it's probably for a good reason," Harry countered. "Percy told us about the tasks, they proved that they weren't Death Eaters, they talked about their war which Professor Apollo told us not to mention to them and most of all, Dumbledore trusts them. I mean, if Dumbledore can trust them, why can't you?"  
"Because I need to know everything about them!" She said and Harry groaned.  
"You don't even know everything about me and Ron, right?" he said, gesturing to me to answer and side with him.  
"Oh no, I'm staying out of this," I said, not wanted to be apart of the argument.  
"But you have to agree with one of us," Hermione said. "Do you think we can trust them or do you think their still hiding things from us?"  
I took a deep breath before I answered.  
"I think that their still keeping things from us-."  
"Hah!" Hermione said, happy to have won the disagreement.  
"But I think we can trust them. Well, at least we can after Easter Break when Sirius and Lupin take their turns with them."


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (A/N Rick owns some of this chapter)

Percy's POV

When I went up to the room that night the curtains of Nico's four-poster bed were already drawn. I was positive he wasn't asleep, but I knew that he didn't want to talk.  
I changed out of my uniform and I put on my pajamas. They weren't anything special like Harry's and Ron's who wear silk PJ's to bed. It was just a t-shirt and boxers. I didn't wear a shirt a camp, but here at Hogwarts all my scars would cause weird looks. Well, I guess that didn't matter anymore since I showed them to Harry, Ron and Hermione less than an hour ago.  
I thought about taking it off, but decided against it. Ron and Harry might have seen the scars already, but that wouldn't stop them from staring again tomorrow.  
I crawled into my bed. "Night Neeks," I said but there was no response. I hadn't expected one.  
I sent a pray to Apollo. "Hey, Apollo," I whispered, "because of your class, I had to talk about the war and stuff like that, so can you please do me a favor and not let me have nightmares tonight?"  
After a moment, a voice spoke in my head.  
"Only because I'm the cause of them," he sighed and I smiled.  
"Thanks."  
The moment my head hit the pillow, I was asleep.

*****

I woke up to a tortured scream.  
I threw my blankets off me and ran to Nico's bed pulling open the curtains with such force I almost ripped them off.  
He was screaming, shaking and crying and I had no idea what to do. Normally I was the one with nightmares and he was the one waking me up.  
"Nico," I said, shaking him. He had never cried out like this in his sleep before. There are the occasional groans or wines, but there's never screaming.  
"Is he okay?" Harry asked as he stood beside me, obviously having been woken up by Nico.  
"I really don't know. He's never done this before," I told them, worried.  
Nico lifted his arm, scratching at his skin, causing himself to bleed.  
"Nico!" I yelled before I crawled onto his bed next to him and pinned his arms to his sides. He was shaking. "Go get Apollo," I told Harry and Ron, who had just gotten out of his bed and turned on the light.  
"Why? What can he do?"  
"Just go get him!" I yelled and they ran off.  
Nico was stronger than I gave him credit for. He was able to pull one of his arms out my grip, so I went and sat on top of him so I could get some leverage. I held his arms above his head while I shouted in his face.  
"Wake up!" I kept saying, but it wasn't working. "Nico, you're okay. You're safe. I wouldn't let anything get you, I promise." Nothing I said made any difference. "Nothing is going to hurt you, just wake up!"  
After a few minutes, the room started to get darker, even though the light was on. The shadows seemed to be getting pulled towards us and the temperature dropped a few degrees. Nico's body started fading and it seemed like he was in the process of shadow traveling, which couldn't be safe. I looked at myself and I saw that I was fading too, but I didn't let go of Nico's arms and get off of him. If he was going somewhere, I was going with him.  
Suddenly, the door was thrown opened and Apollo ran in. He shoved me off of Nico, causing me to fall to the ground, and he slapped Nico across the face, hard.  
Nico was cut off mid-scream and he sat up gasping, tears still running down his face. Apollo sat on the bed beside him, hugging him to his chest and Nico cried. He ran his figures through Nico's hair while muttering Latin. This was the most affection I'd even seen from a god and if this was how he treated his children, they were lucky to have their father love them like that.  
"Nico, you know you can't shadow travel when you asleep," Apollo told the crying boy, making him cry harder. "If you do, your body parts could be sent to different places and you would torn apart and die. You can't control it when you're asleep."  
"I didn't mean to," Nico cried, his voice cracking.  
"I know, but you need to learn to control it." Nico nodded, still crying.  
After a few minutes, Nico's breathing started to even out and Apollo looked at me and I understood. The god moved off the bed and I took his place, holding Nico as he calmed down bit by bit. Apollo left the room, telling us that he had told Harry and Ron to stay in the Common Room and for them just to sleep out there tonight.  
"It's okay," I told Nico. "I'm here. I won't let anything happen to you." For some reason, that made him let out a sob and cry harder, breaking my heart.  
"Do you want to talk about it?" I asked after a few minutes as I ran my fingers through his hair. His tears slowly started to stop. He shook his head. "Did it have anything to do with facing the boggarts today?" Technically it was probably yesterday, but that didn't matter. He shrugged half-heartily, his face still buried in my chest and his arms hugging me. "Is that a yes?" he shrugged again.  
"Nico, why was me dying one of your greatest fears? I could understand Bianca or Hazel, hell, even Jason, but why me?"  
"They're already dead. You're the only person left that I care about. What that boggart showed me was literally what I have nightmares about," he said softly, his voice cracking.  
"You have nightmares of me dying?" He nodded into my chest. "Why? Why me?"  
"Because I don't know what I would do if I lost you," he whispered so quietly that I was barely able to hear him.  
"You'd still be able to visit me in the Underworld. Nothing would really change."  
Nico didn't answer. After a few minutes, I asked the question that I had been thinking about since class.  
"The guy with the wings," I said softly and I felt Nico tense in my arms, "Was that Cupid?" He nodded slightly. "He looks a lot like Thanatos."  
"Thanatos is nicer."  
"Why are you afraid of Cupid?" he shrugged. "Come on Nico," I said softly. "There had to be a reason."  
"You wouldn't understand," he said, pulling away, wiping the leftover tears from his face, slowing moving from me.  
"You don't know that."  
"Yes, I do."  
"How?" I asked, but he turned around, scooting farther away from me. He didn't answer. "How do you know I won't understand?" He shook his head. "How do you know?" I pressed, wanting to know the answer. "Nico, how do you know?" I repeated. This time, he turned around and snapped at me.  
"Because I've seen it. I've dreamt it." He was crying again.  
"Just because you've seen it in a dream doesn't mean it's true," I told him and he just shook his head.  
"I'm a demigod. All my dreams are true." His voice cracked as he spoke and I felt a pain in my chest. It was my turn to shake my head at what he said.  
"Nico, please, tell me? Why are you so afraid of Cupid?" I asked softly.  
He paused and took a breath before speaking. It was almost like he was building up his courage, which he probably was. "You really want to know?"  
"Yes."  
He slowly lifted his arm and as his hand neared my face he made a motion as if to say 'I not going to hurt you.' I nodded slightly and he moved it closer. The moment he touched my cheek, my body slumped and I blacked out.

 

 

It was dark, and I was confused about what was happening, but then I remembered that Nico could travel through dreams. He did something a lot like this when we showed the wizards Elemental Magic. He made them fall asleep so he could show them something.  
This was Nico's way of telling me what he couldn't say.

 

I looked around, not knowing where I was, but I quickly saw Nico and Jason fighting an invisible enemy. Why was Jason here?  
I heard a voice, nagging Nico. Harassing him. It sounded just like the Cupid boggart.  
I watched as Jason sent a lightning bolt, creating a crater. But it didn't stop the voice.  
"A good try, but love cannot be pinned down so easily."  
The wall next to Jason collapsed and he barley dodged it.  
"Stop!" Nico yelled. "It's me you want. Leave him alone!"  
The voice kept taunting him, causing Nico to get more and more upset, but I didn't understand why. Why did Cupid have this effect on him?

The memory seemed to skip forward. I wasn't in control of what was happening. Nico was.

Nico was almost in tears as he spoke his next words. His voice was shaking. "I wasn't in love with Annabeth," he said.  
"You were jealous of her. That's why you don't want to be around her. Especially why you didn't want to be around...him. It makes total sense," Jason said.

The memory hesitated. It was almost as if Nico didn't want me to see what happened next. After a moment or two, it continued.

"I hated myself," he said almost in a whisper. "I hated Percy Jackson."  
Cupid appeared, looking exactly like the boggart had. Handsome but vicious. He stared at Nico as he said the next words.  
"I had a crush on Percy. That's the truth. That's the big secret. Happy now?"  
"Oh, I wouldn't say love always makes you happy. Sometimes it makes you incredibly sad. But at least you've faced it now. That's the only way to conquer me."  
Cupid disappeared, leaving a staff in his place.

The dream ended.

 

 

When I woke up, Nico was sitting by me, running his hands through my hair. When he saw I was awake, he pulled his hand away.  
"Sorry," he muttered but I ignored him.  
I sat up and looked at him. His eyes were puffy from crying and his shoulders were slumped. He seemed like he was ready to give up. He wouldn't meet my eyes.  
"Nico," I said softly and he flinched. He probably thought I was going to yell at him and call him names, but I would never do that. "Nico, look at me." He shook his head, staring at his hands. "Nico, please." He didn't move.  
I sent a silent prayer to Aphrodite, and I knew she heard it because I felt a sudden wave of courage surge through me.  
I put my finger under Nico chin and tilted his head to look at me. The moment he did, I leaned forward and our lips met.

 

The next thing I knew, I was falling forward. I quickly moved my hand in front on me to catch myself before I face planted onto the mattress.  
Nico had left.  
He had shadow traveled away.  
He had left me.  
Why?  
Why would he do that?  
He told me he felt and by some miracle, it was exactly how I felt.  
Ever since I talked with Leo at the bottom of the lake, I'd been trying to figure out my feelings, and I had.  
I'd taken a while, but once I admitted it to myself, it felt natural. Normal. It felt just like it did when I was crushing Annabeth, and that's how I had known it was real.  
I moved my hand and let myself flop face first on the bed and let out a groan of frustration, thinking and over thinking what had happened.  
Jason already knew Nico had a crush on me?  
Does Nico still like me?  
Why didn't Jason tell me?  
Why did I kiss him?  
I shouldn't have kissed him.  
I should've just talked to him and then kissed him.  
Maybe.  
After I had asked his permission or something like that.  
That way I wouldn't've scared him away, causing him to shadow travel away in a panic.  
Wait... if he left in a panic, then he probably didn't know where he went.  
What if he ended up in a China? Didn't he say that he sometimes goes there by accident? What if he didn't have then energy to get somewhere safe?  
I quickly got off Nico's bed and left there room, running out of the Gryffindor Tower, ignoring Ron and Harry as they tried talk to me as I went through the Common Room.  
I paused outside of the painting, making sure that I wasn't going to be followed by the overly curious boys.  
"You can't leave this time of night!" The Fat Lady said to me. "It's past curfew!"  
"It's an emergency," I said and she rolled her eyes.  
"Oh, an emergency, that changes everything," she said sarcastically and ignored her and started running down the stairs.  
After about six flights and countless turns, I was in the DADA room. I ran to the back of the class, went up the few steps and paused to knock on the office door.  
"Come in," a muffled voice said and I entered the office and walked up to the adjacent door that led to Apollo's room. I knocked as I walked in, already talking.  
"I kissed Nico and he shadow traveled away and the lights were on and it was in a panic and he's probably in China or something and he probably needs help and-." Apollo cut me off my rambling by holding up a finger. That's when I took in the picture in front of me.  
Apollo was sitting on a made bed, holding a pen, surrounded by crumpled up pieces of paper.  
"Would you like to hear a haiku? I've been working on some," he said and gestured to the mess around him.  
I really didn't, but since I was about to ask for his help, I was willing to suffer through a few lines of poetry.  
"Sure."  
"Okay," he said and cleared his throat.

"In United States  
Now lost in a field of corn  
Soon to be at camp"

"What?" I asked, utterly confused. Corn?  
He sighed. "When he panicked, he traveled to somewhere in Iowa by accident and is soon going to be at camp, talking with Piper."  
"Oh, thanks," I said, actually grateful for a haiku.  
"You are welcome," the god said, proud of himself. "Would you like to talk about what happened?"  
I shrugged. "If I could. I don't really know who else to talk to."  
"I would suggest Aphrodite, but she's a little busy right now and I doubt you want to talk to her."  
I shook my head. "The last time I asked for her help, I ended up with a pack of condoms and a pamphlet on gay sex."  
Apollo let out a bark of laugher. "That sounds like 'Dite, being overly helpful."  
"That reminds me," I said, "Thank you for your help earlier." The god shook his head.  
"It was nothing. It should be the gods thanking you and Nico for your help with this quest, not the other way around. I will do anything you need of me while you're on this quest."  
"Anything?" I asked and he raised his eyebrow.  
"What do you have in mind?" he asked and I thought for a second.  
"How about you tell me what my possible future with Nico might look like?" Apollo smiled and started looking around him for a few seconds before picking up a piece paper that wasn't crumpled.  
He flattened it out, held it in front of his face and cleared his throat before he started speaking.

"Love love happiness  
Future between you is bright  
Don't fuck it up, Percy"

I deadpanned and looked at the smiling god in front of me. "That started out nice, but now I'm kind of offended." Apollo chuckled. "And Percy is two syllables."  
He glared playfully at me.  
"Don't fuck it up, Perce. Does that work?"  
I pretended to think about that for a few seconds. "Yeah, that could work, but I'm still offended."  
"You should be, you ungrateful piece of shit." I would've been worried if any other god than Apollo had said that to me, but the golden-haired teen was smiling and laughing as he spoke. "Come sit and talk to me," he said and cleared his bed with a snap of his fingers, patting an empty space in front of him.  
I hesitantly sat down with my legs crossed, not really sure what to say.  
"Ya know, I knew Nico was gay, I just thought he had a thing for Will."  
"Really?" I asked, genuinely surprised. Will? The camp's main doctor?  
"Yes, but apparently they're just friends," he said and we sat in silence for a few minutes thinking about what to say next.  
"So you like Nico?" Apollo asked and I was thankful he spoke first.  
"Yeah, and he likes me back. At least, I think he does."  
"Then why did he run?"  
I gave him a shrug. "I was hoping you would know and could help me with this."  
"I am not the goddess of love. I understand how the heart and mind work on a physical field, not an emotional one, but I can give you some advice from personal experience."  
I nodded for him to continue.  
"When he does come back, don't ask why he left, just tell him you're happy to see him and that you care about him."  
"That's it?" I asked, raising an eyebrow when he was done speaking.  
"That's it."  
The god and I talked for a while about the quest. I gave him some updates on things that he hadn't seen and I thanked him for telling me to go with Harry over Easter break. We also talked about his kids, how they were at fighting skills were without bows (as I had been dubbed the sword fighting teacher after the war and Clarisse was currently subbing for me) and just their all around well-being.  
After about an hour, I started yawning and Apollo sent me to bed so I could be well rested for the questions that would no-doubt being coming from the wizards tomorrow.

*****

I woke up to a knock at the door.  
"Can we come in?" A voice that sounded a lot like Ron called and I nodded into my pillow before realizing they couldn't see me.  
"Yeah, go for it," I croaked.  
The door opened and two sets of footsteps entered.  
"Are you awake? It's noon," Harry asked and I groaned and pulled back the curtain to my bed.  
"Well I am now," I said and sat up, and stretched.  
"What happened last night?" The ginger asked, moving so he was standing in my line of sight.  
"Hermione's questions triggered Nico's nightmares," I said, glaring at Ron.  
"What were they about?" Harry asked, moving so I would see him.  
"I don't know," I said shrugging. "He didn't tell me."  
"Where is he?" They asked, seeing the other empty bed.  
"New York, I think," I said and they looked confused.  
"Why?" Harry asked while Ron asked, "How?"  
"Why?" I asked and looked at Harry, "Because that's where we're from. As to how," I looked at Ron, "I think you already know."  
Ron thought for a second. "The Umba-whatever thing where he can travel though shadows."  
I nodded. "We call it shadow travel. It's easier to say."  
"Where did you go when you ran out last night?"  
"I went to thank Professor Apollo for helping Nico out."  
"You seemed to be in a hurry."  
"I wanted to tell him before he fell back sleep."  
A cold breeze went through the room and I pulled my blankets closer to me and I saw Harry and Ron shiver.  
"What all did Apollo do?"  
"He helped me wake Nico up," I explained.  
"When will he be back?" Harry asked and before I could shrug and say, 'I don't know,' someone else spoke for the first time.  
"I'm right here."

 

 

NICO'S POV

The moment I realized that my crush was kissing me, I did the worst thing possible.  
I panicked.  
Next thing I know, I'm in the middle of a cornfield.  
"Dammit!" I screamed, scaring some crows and making them fly away.  
I fell to my knees, utterly exhausted. Normally I'm pretty okay when I travel far distances, but now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure that the lights were on in the dorm room, which would explain how I felt.  
I curled up on the damp ground, yawning, ready to fall asleep, when I heard a giggle.  
I sat up really quickly, ready to give the girl an excuse as to why I was in the middle of their crop, but it wasn't a farmer. It was a beautiful lady with green eyes and black hair.  
"Lady Aphrodite," I said, bowing only my head since I was sitting.  
"Oh, aren't you just so polite! I wish my own children were like that," she said, smiling and giggling.  
"If you don't mind telling, why are you here?" I asked sweetly. I, unlike Percy, try to be respective to the people who was blow me to smithereens.  
"I'm here because you're about to have a crisis," she said, pulling out a mirror and fixing her lipstick.  
"What do you mean?" I asked and she chuckled.  
"Think about it, sweetie." She reached out and gave me a playful tap on the shoulder, putting away her makeup. That's when I remembered.  
I just confessed my feelings for Percy. Oh gods, I told Percy and he kissed me.  
What if he liked me back?  
Wait; come on di Angelo, why would someone like Percy like someone like you?  
That just doesn't add up.  
What if he kissed you out of pity?  
What if he's just playing you?  
Gods you're such an idiot!  
I felt tears start to come to my eyes.  
"See what I mean?" Aphrodite said and it seemed like she was taunting me. "You're having a crisis."  
"Go away!" I yelled, causing her to jump.  
"Fine, if you're not going to talk to me, at least talk to one of my kids. I believe Piper would be helpful," she said before disappearing in a puff of perfume, causing me to cough at the strong floral smell.  
I sat down and cried, overwhelmed with my thoughts until I fell asleep.  
*****  
When I woke up, I saw I was covered in mud and blood. The blood was hopefully from when I scratched myself in my sleep. The scraps were healed, probably by Apollo.  
I don't know how long I was sleeping, but it was now dark out, having been about noon before.  
I stood up, wiped the tears that were once again forming away, dusted off some of the dirt, and called the shadows to me, sending me to camp.  
I ended up in front of the Aphrodite cabin and I walked up to the door and knocked, even though it was either incredibly earlier or incredibly late.  
"Piper! Open up! I need to talk to you!" I said as I pounded on the door.  
There was the sound of steps and groaning and people complaining about needing their 'Beauty Sleep.'  
"Nico? What are you going here? Why are you crying and why are you dirty." Piper asked as she opened the door.  
I wiped my eyes, smearing more mud onto my face, getting rid of the leftover tears in my eyes.  
"Shut the fuck up," someone called, I assumed it was Drew.  
"Percy kissed me and I panicked and shadow traveled away and I feel asleep in a cornfield and now I don't know what to do," I said, the words rushing out of my mouth.  
"He kissed you!" Half the cabin shouted, completely forgetting about their so-called beauty sleep and getting out of their bed.  
The cabin door was thrown open and I was pulled into the cabin by multiple pairs of hands.  
"Someone go get Leo!" Piper called and one of the younger girls, Lucy I think, ran out of the cabin while the others started fussing over my dirty clothes and all the mud.  
My hair started to get brushed, my face wiped off and the guys were digging through the closets while Piper talked to me. Someone even shoved gum into my mouth, which was kind of offensive. Did my breath smell that bad?  
"What all happened?"  
"I have a crush on Percy and I told him," I told her and she just nodded.  
"Yeah, I kn- I mean, oh my gods! Really?" She tried, she really tried to fake surprise, but it was so obvious that she already knew.  
"Who told you? Was it Jason?" I asked, concerned about who all knew.  
"No, it was Leo."  
"Leo knows?"  
"I'm pretty sure the whole camp knows," she said slowly, dragging the words out.  
"What!" I yelled, now sort of angry. "How!"  
"Leo," she said slowly and the door opened, "Who is right there! Yell at him!"  
I moved out of the grasp of all the Aphrodite girls, causing them to complain, but I ignored them. When Leo saw me, he smiled, but it dropped when I shoved him into a wall and held onto his shirt, keeping him in place.  
"Nico! What are you doing here?"  
"Who told you?  
"Told me what?"  
"About me liking Percy," I said, getting angrier by the second.  
"Jason did, now can you please let go of me because I'm getting oddly turned on by this show of confidence." I quickly let go of his shirt and backed away, blushing slightly while he smirked and winked at me, causing me to blush harder.  
"He's so cute!" Someone squealed.  
"Percy is one lucky guy!" Another added. That didn't help my blushing.  
"He doesn't even like me," I muttered but everyone heard me. "He just kissed me out of pity."  
"He kissed you!" Leo yelled, hurting my ears because he was standing right beside me. "Oh gods! This is perfect!"  
"Why is it perfect?" I snapped. "It was pity. There nothing good it!"  
"Our plan worked!" Lucy said, high-fiving one of her brothers.  
"What plan?" I asked, scared. The Aphrodite cabin's plans always end in heartbreak.  
Before anyone could explain anything, Piper spoke using Charmspeak in her voice.  
"Guys, Leo and I've got this. Go back to bed. We'll wake you if we need you." Her siblings mumbled complaints, but did as she said.  
Piper put her hand on my back and steered Leo and I to the door. We sat down on the front porch on the stairs so we could talk.  
"What plan?" I asked again and Piper took a deep breath before talking.  
"My cabin, Leo and myself have been trying to get you and Percy together since Christmas."  
My anger faded, my face paled and my eyes widened.  
"What?"  
"Percy found out about it," Leo said and my eyes widened more.  
"What?" I repeated, utterly confused. Why would they be doing this?  
"He found out the morning you guys left to go back on you're quest. He water boarded me at the bottom of the lake after chasing me around camp, screaming at me."  
"Why didn't I hear about any of this?" I asked, thinking back to that day, but nothing really stuck out besides Percy holding my hand when he shadow traveled and our fight at Hogwarts.  
"Piper Charmspoke everyone to not say anything until you guys had left," Leo said, but I still didn't understand.  
"Why would you do this?"  
Piper answered. "Because you and Percy deserve to be happy."  
That made me smile. Their plan was actually sweet. But then something came to mind.  
"But Percy's straight. He dated Annabeth," I said and they both shook their heads.  
"Percy's bi," Leo said.  
"How do you know?"  
"Drew has a gaydar that's never wrong. It's a child of Aphrodite thing," Piper explained and I nodded, still smiling.  
I had a chance with Percy. This was amazing.  
"Anyways, we already know that this wasn't the first time that you and Percy had kissed," Leo said and I gave him a shocked looked.  
"How do you know that?"  
"Percy told me about the Christmas dance. He also threatened to break my arms if Piper Charmspoke you into liking him."  
Why would he do that?  
"Why would he care?" I asked, not really understanding.  
Piper slapped the back of my head, hard. "Because he likes you, you idiot!"  
"What!?" I yelled. He liked me? No way.  
"You're just getting that, after this whole conversation?" Leo asked, dumbfounded.  
"Percy likes me?" I asked, still confused. How could he like me?  
"Yes! Why else would he kiss you?" Piper asked.  
"Out of pity? To mess with me? I don't know."  
Piper slapped me again.  
"Percy wouldn't do that, and you know it." I thought about that for a few seconds. Everything making since now.  
"So, really, he likes me?" I asked slowly and they both nodded.  
"Yeah, do you have enough energy to get back to the school so you can talk to him?" Leo asked and I shrugged.  
"If I had some ambrosia, probably. But I need to get cleaned up first," I said, gesturing to my still messy clothes.  
"Don't worry," Piper said, standing up and pulling me up with her. "We've got that covered."  
After getting pampered by the Aphrodite cabin for fifteen minutes and taking out my gum to eat a bar of ambrosia, courtesy of Leo's tool belt that he apparently wore when he slept, I was ready to go.  
"How do I look?" I asked and the girls in the room, other than Piper of course, giggled. "Is that a good thing?" they giggled again. "I really hope it's a good thing."  
"Don't worry, it is," Piper reassured me as her sisters giggled again.  
"Well, bye," I said and walked out the door as Leo patted me on the back and everyone wished me good luck.  
As soon as I stepped into the shadow of a cabin, I disappeared.

*****

I ended up right where I wanted to be.  
I was in the dormitory by my bed. I was still in the shadows and Ron and Harry were in front of me talking to Percy who was still laying down, even though it was probably noon here.  
"What all did Apollo do?" Ron asked. Ahhhh, so they were questioning Percy's about last night. Of course.  
"He helped me wake Nico up," Percy explained.  
"When will he be back?" Harry asked and that was when I decided to make my presence known.  
I stepped forward and said, "I'm right here."


	18. Chapter 18

Percy's POV

"Nico," I said, sitting up in my bed completely. "You're back."  
He nodded slowly. "Yeah, sorry for disappearing earlier."  
Ron and Harry took this as their queue to leave. They stopped halfway into their excuse before giving up and just walking out, shutting the door behind them.  
"I'm glad you're back. I missed you," I said and before Nico could respond, he stumbled, catching himself on the side of his bed.  
I was up and going to help him for I could even register what I was doing.  
"Are you okay?" I asked helping him sit on the edge of his bed.  
"Yeah," he said, nodding, "Just a tad tired from shadow traveling."  
I gave him a small smile before walking over to the trunk at the bottom of my bed and grabbing a small square of ambrosia from it and tossing it to him.  
"Thanks," Nico said, breaking of a corner and nibbling on it.  
We staying in semi-awkward silence for a good minute before I walked over to his bed and sat by him, getting a good look at him for the first time since he appeared, and I have to say, daammmnnn.  
His hair was styled in a messy way, like normal but this time a little more orderly, his cheeks had a slight pink tinge, his eyebrows looked different, almost as if they had been waxed and his lips were pinker than normal.  
He was wearing a black tank top with black skinny jeans. The weird thing was that I'd never seen Nico in a tank top, unless we were in the arena, training, and may I repeat myself. Daaammmmnnnn.  
"Nico, you look-you look nice," I stuttered, unsure of what to say.  
He awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck, not sure how to take the compliment.  
"Oh, uh, thanks. The Aphrodite cabin gave me a makeover."  
That'd make since. Nico would never take the time to style his hair.  
"Well they did a great job," I said and he blushed and looked away. "Nico, look at me."  
Unlike earlier this morning, he listened. When he turned his head, he took in a quick breath at how close our faces were.  
I leaned forward slightly so our noses were brushing and I could feel his breath on my lips. Before I moved closer, Nico spoke.  
"Percy, when I'm from, this is frowned upon. It's considered-." I cut him off.  
"You're not then anymore, Nico. It's the twenty-first century now."  
"But-." I cut him off again.  
"No buts."  
I cupped my hand lightly against Nico's soft cheek and he froze. I tensed, ready to pull back at the first hint of repulsion or disgust. My heart stuttered to a stop as he ever so slightly leaned his head into my hand.  
I leaned in a little more and Nico stilled. I didn't dare make another move, not wanting to force anything on the younger boy. If he chose that he wanted to kiss me, he would let me know.  
If not, I was in for one long, sad, lonely night...again.  
As he relaxed more up against my hand and my pulse began to race.  
Nico smiled and his eyes flashed to my lips for just a second.  
I couldn't resist the invitation.  
Wrapping my free arm behind his back, I pulled his small frame closer me and I dipped my head downward, closing the distance.  
His lips were soft and smooth, almost slick. It felt like he was wearing something like chapstick, and given the fact that he had gotten a makeover from the Aphrodite cabin, he probably was.  
It was a very slow kiss and I could feel his nose brushing my cheek.  
He rested one hand on my waist and placed the other on my lower back, pulling me closer.  
This might not have our first kiss, but this was our first real kiss.  
After about a minute, there was a knock at the door. I pulled back, frowning and annoyed.  
"I swear to the fucking gods if you walk through that fucking door, I will fucking stab you!" I shouted and I heard two pairs of footsteps running away.  
Nico chuckled. "Violent much?" He asked and I smiled down at him.  
"I have a good reason to be," I said and he smiled.  
"And what is that?" Nico questioned, raising an eyebrow.  
"They stopped me from kissing my boyfriend, what else?" I asked and Nico looked shocked.  
This time when I leaned in, he met me halfway.  
It was a lot more demanding of a kiss this time. It was more persistent, more urgent, probably from the built up tension of the last twelve hours.  
After a few moments, his lips parted, offering me free access and I flicked my tongue between his lips, allowing myself to deepen the kiss.  
I knew that this was probably his first genuine makeout, but I wasn't going to say anything that would embarrass him.  
It may have sloppy and there was the gnashing of teeth, but it was perfect.  
Nico squeaked and stiffened slightly as I pulled him on top of me, but allowed himself to sink down, now lying on me.  
He was so close that I could smell a faint perfume on him and he tasted minty, almost like he had been chewing gum just minutes ago. It was oddly pleasant.  
He moved his hand that was on my back out from under me and placed it behind my head, gripping my hair and pulling our mouths closer together.  
I tilted my head, giving myself a better angle and Nico moaned softly, causing me to smile.  
I never wanted this to end.  
But it did, as all good things do.  
"I've been thinking about doing that all day," I told him as he looked down on me.  
"Haven't you been sleeping?" Nico asked with a cheeky smile.  
"That doesn't mean I can't dream about it," I responded with a cheekier smile, causing him to blush. "You're so cute," I told him and he buried his face into my chest and shook his head. "Deny it all you want, it's true."  
He mumbled something into my shirt.  
"What was that?"  
He lifted his head and looked me in the eye. "I'm you're boyfriend?" He asked softly and I nodded.  
I wrapped my arms around him, holding him comfortably to my torso.  
"If you want to be."  
He nodded. "I would like that."  
"I would like that, too."  
He rested his head back down on my chest. After a few minutes, he said, "I can hear you're heart beat."  
"It beats only for you," I said and I felt him hit my arm.  
"That was so cheesy," he told me and I chuckled.  
"You know you loved it."  
"I did."  
Nico and I laid there until we both drifted to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> please comment what you think


	19. Chapter 19

Harry's POV

As we were walking down to Hagrid's hut for class, Percy broke into a sprint.  
"Percy!" I yelled after him. "Where are you going?" He ignored me and kept running.  
That's when I saw it. It was a black Pegasus and Percy was running at it head on. He hit it square in the chest, causing both of them to go crashing to the ground. He was yelling something like, 'Flapjack!'  
I looked at Nico who was smiling and laughing at his friend's weirdness.  
"What's going on?" Hermione asked and Nico just kept laughing, not answering the question.  
He composed himself by the time we reached Percy and the horse. Perce was standing in front of the large black creature with his arms around its neck.  
"Percy!" Hermione yelled. "That's a wild animal! It could hurt you!"  
"Nah," Percy replied as he rubbed his face into the animal's mane.  
"What do you mean by 'nah?' It could trample you to death!"  
Percy looked over at us and nodded. "Yeah, he could, but he's not going. Are you?" He said the last part to the horse before chuckling.  
"Uh, mate, are you talking to that Pegasus?" Ron asked and Percy looked shocked.  
I saw Nico frantically shaking his head in the corner of my eye.  
"Uh, no?" Percy said, not at all convincing us of anything. I saw Nico shake his head and face palm, basically saying, 'Smooth, Percy. Smooth.'  
Hagrid still hadn't come out of his hut, or wherever he was, and the whole class was waiting. Sadly Draco hadn't dropped the class after his unfortunate accident last year that sadly left him alive.  
All of a sudden, Percy stopped petting the Pegasus and walked over to the group of Slytherin.  
"The fuck did you say about Pegasi?" Percy said, getting up into Malfoy's face. "They are beautiful, majestic creatures that could trample you to death, so I'll set them on you if you don't shut the fuck up."  
"Could you get any gayer?" Malfoy said and his group of friend 'ohhhhh'ed. "Not only are you a dick sucking faggot, you love Pegasi?"  
Percy stared at Draco and I was afraid he was going to deck him them and there. To my shock, he started laughing.  
"You know, for your insult to have any effect on me, I have to somewhat value your existence."  
"So, you are gay," Malfoy said, taunting Percy, which is never a good idea. "Are you fucking di Angelo too? Is he you're fag boyfriend?" Di Angelo? Nico?  
Wait... so that meant Percy and Nico...  
Nah, probably not true.  
Percy looked at Nico. "Oh my gods! Draco's a dude bro!" He laughed and Nico burst out laughing. What's a dude bro?  
Draco paled, and in not knowing what to say or do, he punched Percy, causing his head to snap to the side.  
Percy moved his hand to his mouth, and as he pulled away, seeing blood on her fingers, he let out a dry chuckled, surprising the small crowd that had gathered to watch the exchange.  
"You really shouldn't done that," Percy said and his fist was in motion. The right hook knocked Draco to the floor.  
"My father will hear about this!" Malfoy said as he tried to get up, but Percy pushed him down onto the grass with his foot.  
"Yeah, he will, and he'll hear how you got your ass beat by a Pegasus loving gay boy," Percy said, mocking Draco.  
He kneeled on top of Malfoy and punched him across the face, but he didn't stop there. He grabbed his collar, pulling him up and punching him again and again and again.  
Ron, Hermione and I were in the crowd, watching in shock. We'd never seen Percy like this. I looked over at Nico and he had a worried expression. I guess he's never seen Percy like this either.  
Percy kept punching him and didn't stop. It started to worry me. I'd seen Percy fight and I knew that he'd killed people, so I didn't know how hard it would be to kill Draco.

 

 

Nico's POV

Malfoy was getting his ass beat, and as much as I was enjoying it, I was worried about my boyfriend.  
Percy had a good reason to punch him, but not like this. Not beating him. Not causing his own aura to turn red with anger.  
Some of Malfoy's friends seemed to get brave after the fourth punch or so, but when they went to stop Percy, I stepped up to defend him.  
"What, are you going to protect your boyfriend?" One of them asked, mocking me.  
I chuckled and shook my head. "No, I'm protecting you from him, actually."  
"And what's that supposed to mean?" Another asked.  
"Just trust me on the fact that you'd much rather face me than him." I ended the conversation by dropping down, swiping my leg across the ground, knocking them of their feet.  
"Percy," I said as I faced my cousin. Draco was out cold and I could see his life aura fading. "Percy, you need to stop," but he didn't. That was concerning. "Percy! Stop!" I yelled, using the voice I used to command ghosts around.  
As Percy's fist faltered, I grabbed him by the back of his shirt and yanked him off of the blonde boy who was barely recognizable. I pulled Percy away from the crowd, which had grown substantially since the fight had started, consisting of the whole class.  
I had gotten him about twenty feet away when he got back to his feet, heading back towards the crowd to finish off Draco.  
I stepped in front of him.  
"Nico," he said sternly, "Get out of my way."  
"No, Percy, you were going to kill him," I said, not moving.  
He tried to go around me as I talked but I kept stepping him his way.  
"Then good riddance. The world would be better off without him." He tried to get around me again, but I wasn't going to let that happen.  
"Nico, move."  
"No," I stated simply, crossing my arms.  
"Percy, why are you doing this? It's stupid. Stop."  
"I can't. It's about honor!" That's when I noticed the tears in his eyes.  
"Whose?"  
"Yours." I gave him a confused look and the tears started to spill. "You heard what he said! I can't just let him say that! He needs to be taught a lesson!"  
I didn't know what to say. All this was happening because he was defending me.  
I walked up to Percy and wrapped my arms around him. The moment I did, I felt his anger leave and saw the glow around him start change from red back to its normal golden color.  
"I don't care what he said," I told him softly, not letting anyone else hear, "It's not going to change how I feel about you."  
"But-." I cut him off.  
"No buts. Now tell Blackjack bye so we can go and I can clean your hand."  
"Okay," he said before looking at his Pegasus, giving him a nod, which was returned, and we headed up to the castle.

 

Harry's POV

The five of us were sitting in a Common Room watching Nico and Ron play Wizard Chess.  
Nico was beating Ron and every time he killed one of Ron's pieces, him and Percy would high-five.  
As Nico's Queen slashed through yet another one of Ron's Pons, I thought back to the Fourth Task that took place a few days ago.  
Percy hadn't gotten any clues about it from his source, so when I walked into the arena and was told that I would have to face a monster, I just about peed myself.  
We used something called 'Celestial Bronze' to kill the monsters that made them turn to dust.  
We fought these things called Telekhines. It was a weird dog like creature with flippers.  
Most of us turned it to dust within about ten minutes, having learned more sword fighting skills from Professor Apollo, but Percy took about two minutes. I got the feeling that he was just playing with and really could've killed it in a matter of second, but he wanted to entertain the crowd.  
We were scored on not only time, but skill. Of course, Percy won. Surprisingly I got second place, thanks to all the extra help Percy was giving me.  
As Nico put Ron into Checkmate, Percy leaned over and whispered something into his ear, causing him to smile.  
They both got up and started walking to the door.  
"Don't wait up!" Percy called over his shoulder as they left the room.  
"Where are they going?" Hermione asked and Ron and I shrugged. I went and took Nico's place, getting ready to play Ron. Hermione ran off, up the stairs of the Boy's Dormitory.  
"Wonder what she's up to," Ron said as he called out the command to move his piece.  
Not a minute later, Hermione was standing by us holding the invisibility cloak.  
"What do you think you're doing?" I asked, concerned that she had found my hiding place.  
"They've been sneaking off every Saturday all year. I want to know where they go," she said, looking at us. "Are you coming?"  
"Might as well," I said after a moment. "Just to keep you out of trouble."  
The three of us left the Common Room, walking quickly to catch up with Percy and Nico. As soon as we saw them, we stopped and covered ourselves in my cloak. We followed them carefully as they ran down some stairs, threatening to push each other over the side.  
"Nico, shut up before I shove you over the railing."  
"No, I'll shove you!"  
They started playfully shoving each other and laughing. After a moment, Nico stopped and motioned for Percy to walk forward.  
Five minutes later, we were in the dungeons.  
"Where are they?" Hermione asked and Ron and I shrugged. Percy and Nico had suddenly disappeared.  
"This was a bad idea," Ron complained and I nodded in agreement. We should've just left them alone, but I wasn't going to let Hermione go after them by herself.  
"W-." Hermione's sentence was cut short by the cloak getting pulled off of us.  
"How did you do that?" I asked Nico, who was standing behind us.  
"How did you know we were here? We were invisible," Hermione added and Percy and Nico both shrugged.  
"You were loud," Nico said simply, handing me back my cloak.  
"Thanks," I muttered and he nodded.  
"Now what the fuck guys?" Percy asked, clearly annoyed. "Why are you following us?"  
"Why are you sneaking off?" Hermione countered.  
"Does it matter?"  
"Yes."  
Percy and Nico shared a look before Percy smiled and threw him arm around the other boy.  
"We were going to make out."  
Our faces turned red with embarrassment.  
"Oh, uh, sorry," I said and we all turned around and rushed off.  
We didn't talk until we got to the dormitory.  
"So..." I started and Ron continued.  
"...Percy and Nico are..."  
"...A couple?" Hermione finished. We all looked at each other and nodded.  
"Yeah, a couple."  
Ron was the first one to get over the shock. "Well I don't see why not. Wanna go play chess?" He asked me.  
"Yeah, sure, let's go."

 

Nico's POV

"Gods they're idiots," Percy said once they were far enough away. He turned to me. "Can you take us there?"  
I grabbed his hand and smiled as I pulled the shadows towards us.  
When he appeared in the Forbidden Forest, Percy pulled out a square of ambrosia and broke off a corner.  
"Here," he said, handing it to me. "I can't be fighting a weakened opponent."  
I chuckled and ate the square.  
"What does it taste like for you?" Percy asked.  
"The cookies that your mom makes." Percy smiled.  
"Same here. Dude, we are so meant for each other," he said and pulled me into a random hug before releasing me quickly. "We were also meant to beat the shit out of each other."  
I pulled my sword from the shadows as Percy pulled Riptide from his pocket. "I wouldn't have it any other way."

*****

After thirty minutes of sparing, we were leaning up against a tree. We'd been doing this every Saturday since the start of the year and at this point, the monsters in the forest just avoided us.  
"That was more difficult than fighting that monster," Percy said, eating a square of ambrosia to heal the cuts I left on him.  
"Well you fought a Telekhine," I told him, "It couldn't been that hard."  
"I know! If they wanted me to fight something for their entertainment, at least make it something where I have to try!"  
I nodded in agreement.  
He turned to me. "Do you have a Band-Aid?" I gave him a confused look and offered him part of my square, but he just ignored my hand. "Because I scrapped my knee following for you." He said it with a straight face and I started laughing.  
"You're an idiot."  
"I know," he said as he grabbed my face, bringing it to his.


	20. Chapter 20

Percy's POV

The Weasley were at the train station waiting for us.  
After hugs and hellos, we were all stuck into a car. Thankfully, Mr. Arthur had done some magic so the backseat was a lot larger than it seemed on the outside.  
Thirty horrible minutes later, we were at an apartment complex called 'Grimmland Place,' which sounded pretty cheery.  
After saying some spell and the apartments moving apart, a new door appeared.  
As soon as we walked in, I was punched across the face.

*****

I saw Nico in my dream. He was standing right in front of me, holding me hands.  
"Hey, how's your face?" he asked and I chuckled.  
"It's fine. What about you? You good?"  
He shrugged. "I'm okay."  
"What happened?"  
"Some guy with black hair punched you, knocking you out. I got off a few kicks, but he knocked me out too. In my defense, he took me by surprise," he explained and I frowned.  
"I got knocked out with one punch?" I asked and Nico gave me a quick peck on the lips.  
"It was a solid right hook, Perce. Don't be to hard on yourself."  
"What's even going on?" I asked and Nico shrugged again.  
"My guess is more questions."  
"Why won't they just trust us?" I asked.  
"I don't know," he said, shaking his head.  
"Well what do we say?"  
"We don't tell them we're demigods."

*****

I woke up tied to a chair, hearing people arguing.  
"This is unnecessary, Sirius! You didn't need to knock them out!" Mrs. Molly yelled.  
"Well I need to separate and question them. This was the easiest way," some guy, probably Sirius, responded.  
"But tying them to a chair? Really?" Mr. Arthur countered.  
"I need answers." The door swung open. "Oh good, you're up."  
I took in the man in front of me. He was skinny, almost like he had been starved. His curly brown hair went down to right above his shoulders and he had a pretty cool mustache.  
"Cool 'stache," I said, giving a nod of appreciation. The man chuckled slightly.  
"Flattery will get you no where."  
"So, where's Hermione?" I asked, getting to the point that of why I was tied up. "What questions does she have for me this time?"  
Sirius shook his head. "Hermione had nothing to do with this. I have the questions."  
"Before you start asking them, can I ask you two things?" The man shrugged.  
"Sure, why not."  
"Who are you and where's Nico?"  
"I'm Sirius Black, Harry's Godfather. As to where your boyfriend is." I smiled at that. Boyfriend. That's so cute. "He's in the next room."  
I nodded a thanks before screaming.  
"Hey Honey!" I yelled at the wall. "You doing okay?"  
I heard a muffle reply.  
"Yeah Sweetheart, I'm fine!"  
I looked back at Sirius. "I will answer any question to the best of my ability as long as you untie me and you let me be with Nico."  
Sirius started at me for a minute, thinking. "You won't attack me if I untie you?"  
"As long as you don't give me a reason too."  
That seemed to be an expectable answer.  
Five minutes later, Nico and I were sitting at a kitchen table surrounded by the Weasley's, Harry, Hermione, Sirius and some guy who introduced himself as Remus Lupin.  
Everyone had been instructed to stay quiet or leave, except Lupin and Sirius, who were asking the questions.  
I'd already prayed to the gods, asking for help, and I was assured that they'd give Nico and I the right answers to the questions we didn't know how to answer.  
"What are you?"  
"Elemental Wizards."  
"There's no such thing," Lupin said and Nico and I shook our heads.  
"I'd have to disagree," I said.  
"What are Elemental Wizards then?"  
Nico answered this time. "We are wizards who don't use traditional magic. We don't use wands, we use Elements. I use darkness and death, Percy using water. The people that came and visited the school used fire, weather and sound waves."  
"Sound waves?"  
We nodded and I explained, saying what naturally flowed out of my mouth. "Piper can manipulate sound waves so that by the time they enter your ears, you'll do whatever she says. I don't really understand it because, well," I shrugged, "I don't study it."  
I could tell that Sirius was starting to warm up to me and my semi-sarcastic answers because he was starting to smile.  
"Dumbledore say's you're here to help with the war against Voldemort."  
"Yes Sir."  
"Oh, he said Sir! He's a keeper!" Sirius chuckled.  
"No I'm not. I don't play Quidditch."  
"I think I'm in love," Sirius deadpans, looking at me and I had a smile on my face.  
"As much as that means to me, I can't return that love. I already have someone," I said, bumping Nico, who was blushing, with my elbow.  
Everyone smiled at that, except Remus for some reason. Why wasn't he smiling? Nico was being adorable! He should be smiling.  
"Who are your parents?" Remus asked.  
"Sally and Possy Jackson. Paul Blofis is my stepdad," I answered.  
"Henry and Maria di Angelo," Nico said. Henry? Really? Well I guess Possy was probably worse.  
"Your tattoos?" Lupin demanded and Nico and I held out our right arms. He studied them before looking at us with concern. "Are you branded with them?" He asked and we nodded. "Why?"  
"It's a sign that we're apart of an army."  
Sirius stiffened. "What army?"  
"The one at Salem," I replied simply, taking my arm off the table. Nico copied my actions.  
"Why would you need to be apart of an army?"  
"Because of the war?"  
"What war?"  
"The one that took place at Salem," Nico said, annoying Lupin and amusing Sirius.  
"What was it about? Who fought?"  
"Everyone at the school, and we fought to live." Lupin raised his eyebrow, not believing us.  
"Really? Because I have a friend who teaches at Salem and he's never mentioned a war, much less Elemental Wizards."

 

Hermione's POV

The room grew silent at Remus' words as we stared at the two boys in front of us.  
I knew that there was something off about them but nooo, Ron and Harry wouldn't listen to me. That's why I started talking to Remus once I found out that they were coming over for Easter Break. He told me that Harry had already been talking to Sirius and that's why they got invited, so Sirius could question them.  
I had given Remus detailed scripts of what had taken place that didn't add up and he was very thankful to know everything that had happened.  
We continued to stare at the two boys and they got confused looks on their faces. Suddenly, there was a flash of bright light and they were gone.  
"Where did they go!" I yelled. Before anyone could say anything else, there was a knock at the door.  
"I'll get it," Mrs. Weasley said, running to the door.  
Less than a minute later, Dumbledore walked into the room and to say he didn't look happy would be an understatement.  
"What did I tell you when they first showed up?" He asked in a threatening voice, daring us to answer. "I told you they were powerful. I told you they were our allies. I told you not to pry into their lives and that they would tell you once they fully trust you, which they did. They told you all that they could about them, but was that enough? No. Not for you apparently," he said, staring at Remus, Sirius and myself, but mostly at me. I gulped.  
"I'm sorry," I said, but he ignored me.   
"Even when you came to me with concerns about them being Death Eaters, I assured you that they were not. I sent you to talk to Professor Apollo who told you what they were, he even went so far as to bring it into the curriculum this year, teaching you everything about them from how they fight to how they survive. He asked you not to tell anyone and not to ask them about their past. You did both. I asked him about punishment for you three," he said, looking at Harry, Ron and I, "But he told me to let you off with a warning, but to tell you not to do it again.  
"If they come back, and I'm not sure that they will, you can nicely ask them if they will answer any more questions. If, for some reason, they say yes, you may ask the questions in a polite and respectful way. If they say no, that will be it. There will be no more questions. You will leave them alone. If they don't come back, you will not bring up what happened here at school. You will go on as normal. Do you have any questions?"  
I slowly raised my hand and he nodded at me.  
"Professor, if they're not from Salem, where are they from?" The others nodded, agreeing with my question.  
"It doesn't matter where they're from. What matters is that they are here to help."  
"Are there any other questions?" No one dared ask anything. "Harry, have you had another one of you're dreams?" Dumbledore asked, changing the subject.  
"Not since we talked last."  
"Good," he said, nodding. "That's good. Well, if that is all, I must be going," he said, walking out of the room, leaving the way he come in less than five minutes ago.

 

Nico's POV

"Really? Because I have a friend who teaches at Salem and he's never mentioned a war, much less Elemental Wizards."  
I kept a straight face, but my mind was going 'shit shit shit shit shit.' I looked over at Percy and saw a blank slate, but I knew the same thing was happening in his mind. 'Shit shit shit shit shit.'  
"Bro, calm down," a voice said in my head and I recognized it as my lovely DADA teacher. "Dumbledore is about to show up and bitch them out, so were going to give them a little privacy, okay?" Privacy? What?  
I felt my body start to grow warm and I knew I had a confused look on my face. I checked on Percy and saw the same thing happening to him. Then there was a bright flash of light and suddenly we were falling.  
It only lasted about a second before we hit something soft.  
"What are we doing here?" Percy asked as we got off of his bed. I grabbed my hand and pulled me up as his bedroom door opened.  
"Percy!" Mrs. Sally said, pulling her son into a hug. "Are you okay? I wasn't expecting you for another two months!"  
"We're fine, Mom. You don't have to worry," Percy said and his mom hugged him harder.   
"I'll always worry."  
Percy pulled back from the hug, smiling while he looked at me.  
Oh no, he was going to tell him mom.  
"Mom, may I introduce to you Nico di Angelo. My boyfriend."  
Mrs. Sally's smile didn't miss a beat. "Well it's about damn time," she said and pulled me into a hug, causing me to blush and Percy's smile to widen. "Welcome to the family."

*****

Percy I were walking into his bedroom after eating breakfast. We had woken up Mrs. Sally as we fell through the ceiling, and since we hadn't ate since the train, she was nice enough to make us a meal.  
Sitting down next to Percy on his bed, I smiled as he wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me between his legs resting his chin on my shoulder. He gently pecked me on the cheek.  
"What's wrong?" He asked.  
"Nothing just thinking," I lied. In truth I was worried about the upcoming tournament. I knew that we had talked about it a lot, but I still had a bad feeling about it.  
"Nico..." he warned. For an idiot he was annoyingly observant.  
"I'm just worried, with the last task and all, I can't help but-." I was cut off as his lips crashed into mine, squeezing me to him, as my hands sought out his hair.  
Our position changed and I was now straddling his lap, as his hands roamed my sides. A internally gasped as I felt a soft nip at my lower lip, asking for entrance. Wanting to tease him a little, I denied.  
Growling possessive, he griped my ass, causing me to once again gasp at the sensation.  
Taking advantage he slid his warm tongue into my mouth, fighting for dominance, which he quickly won.

 

Harry's POV

Three hours later we were all sitting down eating diner when there was a knock at the door.  
"I'll get it," Mrs. Weasley said, excusing herself from the table. She walked back in a minute later with Percy and Nico, causing everyone in the room to stiffen. They each took a seat across from each other, denying Mrs. Weasley request to fix them a plate.  
"We already ate, but thank you," Nico said politely, making Mrs. Weasley smile.  
The two boys looked at the people at the table.  
"We understand that you have some questions for us," Percy said and Hermione tentatively raised her hand, making the two boys chuckle.  
"Hermione," Percy said, calling on her.  
"Where do you come from?" She asked carefully and they though about an answer for a few moments.  
"We can't tell you where we come from exactly, but it's in New York," Nico said.  
"Can you tell us anything about it?" Remus asked.  
"There are about fifty people there," Nico started.  
"We train in any way imaginable, always ready for battle," Percy continued.  
"We're judged on our parents," Nico said softly. "It doesn't matter who you are. It's all about your parents."  
Percy smiled sadly at his partner. "But we're getting over our prejudice of the darker sides of people's heritage."  
"Another question?" Nico asked after a minute and Ron asked a question he'd been thinking about for a while.  
"When we first met you guys on the street, what attacked you? How did Percy get hurt because I have two totally different memories of what happened," Ron said and I agreed with him.  
One version was Percy getting attacked by these girls dressed as cheerleaders, but they had weapons, and the other was a bunch of guys ganging up on him, mugging him.  
"It was monsters, like the ones we fought in the task last week, but much worse."  
"Is that what you fought in the war? Monsters?" Remus asked and the two boys nodded.  
"Yeah," Percy said, not going into any more detail. We decided not to push them.  
"I have an odd question," Hermione said and Nico nodded for her to continue. "Why do you always say 'gods' instead of 'God?'"  
That seemed to stump Percy, but Nico answered without hesitation.  
"We're Hellenistic. We believe in the Roman gods."  
"Really?" Remus asked, very interested in this topic.  
"Yes, that's why out tattoo's say SPQR. The Senate and People of Rome."  
Percy continued speaking on the topic. "We believe that the gods blessed us with our gifts."  
"Why do you believe that?" I asked.  
"It would make since, wouldn't it?" Nico asked before explaining what he was talking about. "I can control the dead, like Lord Pluto of the Underworld. Percy can control water, like Lord Neptune of the Oceans."  
Nico was speaking very respectfully about this topic. "Where do you think you get your magic from?"  
I thought about that for a second, not knowing the answer. Of course, Hermione did.  
"I've read that some wizards believe that the original witches and wizards were blessed by the Greek goddess of magic, Hecate."  
"Her Roman counterpart is called Trivia," Percy explained and I was confused.  
Greek and Roman gods? Wizards being made from a goddess? No way.  
"You really believe that?" Remus asked and the two boys nodded.  
"Completely."  
We spent the rest of dinner talking, joking and just having fun.  
Then the topic of the final task came up.  
"What do you think it is?" I asked and Percy shrugged.  
"I don't know, but have you seen that weird hedge that they started growing by the Quidditch fields?" he asked and I nodded. "I have a feeling it has something to do with that.”


	21. Chapter 21

Percy's POV

Nico and I were in the boy’s bathroom showering, in our own stalls, when I heard a "FUCK!" and a thump!  
"Nico!" I called, facing the wall that separated the stalls. "Nico!" He didn't answer.  
I suddenly felt something wrong with the water at my feet and when I looked down, it was tinted red. "Nico!" I shouted again, pulling back the curtain of my stall, grabbing a towel and wrapping it around my waist before pulling back the curtain to Nico's shower.  
I completely ignored the fact that he was naked, more worried about the blood coming from his head.  
I kneeled down, checking to see if he was conscious, which he wasn't, before I grabbed another down, wrapping it around him, and carrying him to our dormitory, praying to Apollo.  
He told me that he didn't feel like moving and to just take some nectar and pour it on his injury and to make him drink some.  
That's it. That's all the god did to help.  
I got some weird looks carrying a mostly naked boy through the halls of the Boy's Dormitory, but if anyone had a problem with it, they didn't say anything. It was probably the horrified expression on my face that kept them away.  
When I walked into our room, I looked at Harry and Ron who were sat on the floor.  
"You should probably leave," I told them and they rushed out.  
I laid Nico on his bed, propping his head up and making sure his towel was covering him. I went to the chest at the bottom of my bed, digging around until I found nectar. I walked over to my boyfriend and turned his head to the right. I saw the gash and took a deep breath before pouring some of the godly liquid on it, causing it to immediately close.  
I poured a little in his mouth and I rubbed his throat until he swallowed.  
I let out a sigh of relief and then I remembered that we were both basically naked. I quickly got dressed and then walked to the chest at the bottom of his bed, pulling out some boxers and a t-shirt. My face turned red as I pulled his legs though the holes, trying to stare anywhere other than the obvious place.  
To be honest, I did look. And let's just say that for his age, he was well off.  
As I carefully sat him up, I stared at his chest and back.  
I'd seen his scars before, but I had never focused on them because he would always end up getting embarrassed and making me look away.  
There weren't to many of them, just a few here and there, but there was one that bothered me. It didn't look like a slash or cut or anything that had been done during a fight. It was over a foot long, going down his left side on his back. It looked like it was made one cut at a time by someone standing right behind him.  
It probably happened before he went into the jar. I'd have to ask him about that when he wakes up.  
Once I laid him back down, now clothed, I sat by him and ran my hands through his hair. I used the water that was still in our hair to help me get the blood out that had started to mat down Nico's hair.  
After about ten minutes, Nico groaned and sat up.

 

Nico's POV

I woke up to someone running their hands through my hair. As good as that felt, my head suddenly started to hurt. I groaned and sat up, only to be hugged by Percy.  
"Thank gods you're okay," he said, hugging me closer.  
"What happened?" I asked, not remembering why I was in pain.  
"You slipped and fell in the shower, knocking yourself out," Percy explained and I blushed.  
If I was in the shower and I was now dressed in my bed, that meant... Oh gods.  
Before I could ask Percy if he was the one to dress me, he pulled back from the hug and started talking again.  
"Where did you get that scar on your back?" He asked and I shivered, thinking about what happened. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to," he added quickly but I shook my head.  
"No, it's fine. Um, after I was kidnapped and before I was stuck in that damned jar, the twins tortured me for information about you and the others. They cut into me, but once they saw I wasn't going to talk, they stuck me in the jar."  
Percy pulled me into a hug again, running a hand down my back, over my scar. Then he pulled back again and looked at me. There was something different about him but I couldn't put my finger on it quite yet.  
Then his lips met mine, and like the times before it felt so right. We just fit perfectly. One of his hands reached to tangle itself in my hair and the other rested almost hesitantly on my hip, though he thought I might break. I hoped the moment would never end.  
But it did, and I wasn't about to complain because suddenly he was pulling me closer, going from being gentle to be rough.  
Our heads moved together effortlessly and he nipped at bottom lip asking for access, which I immediately granted.  
Our tongues were moving together and I swear it was the most spectacular feeling.  
All too soon, we had to stop. The fact that you have to breath can be a damn pain sometimes.  
I found myself staring up in to those beautiful green eyes and felt one of his hands stroking my hair, and realized that if we could just stay like this, just maybe we'd be able to forget all our pain. However, the one thing I thought was slightly worrying was the fact we'd somehow gone from sitting to laying down without me even realizing. I'd been a bit too preoccupied to care.  
That's when I noticed it.  
His aura.  
That's what was different.  
"I-I can see you're aura. It-it-."  
"What?" Percy asked, concerned. "What's wrong with it?"  
I shook my head. "It's just that it's pink."  
"What does that mean?"  
I leaned down and kissed him again before whispering in his ear.  
"It means that you're in love."  
I smiled at him as he cupped my face. My body tingled from his touch as we met each other kissing.  
It started of slow once again until he wrapped his hands around me, grasping my butt making me gasp. He fully took over my mouth.  
This kiss was more passionate then the one we had experienced before, more instinctual.  
I felt his need to dominate as he lifted me. I wrapped my legs around his waist wanting nothing more than to be closer to Percy.  
I dug my fingers in his hair as he stroked my back under my shirt making me moan from his touch.  
I tightened my grasp on his hair and he moaned, sending chills down my spine. I bucked against him making us both moan.  
He shoved me so I was laying down, crawling on top of me. We parted from the kiss as he stared down at me caging me in his arms.  
"Nico." His voice was husky and wanted to make me melt.  
I grabbed him by his hair again pushing our mouths together. He groaned and then started to grind against me. My back arched and I moaned in pleasure.  
Percy only stops a moment from kissing me to take of my shirt. He pushes me back in the bed and starts kissing my neck, sucking on it. He moves down my body and I can't help but gasp as it feels amazing but tickles.   
I was surprised when he lowers my boxers and I tensed up as his kisses get lower and lower.   
His mouth finally makes it all the way down and he started to tease me. Oh gods. He started to pleasure me with his mouth and I give a moan of ecstasy as he continued.   
I grabbed his hair and sped up the process, making him laugh, sending vibrations though me, making it even more enjoyable.   
It was so much so that I couldn't hold my voice and I cried out. As he sped up, I was on the verge, my breathing heavy an hitched, I knew I won't last much longer. Then he stopped.   
"Percy...m-move." I tried to move his head back, but he won't move. "P-Percy I'm gonna..." My words were lost in a deposit moan as I gave into the pleasure. We are both breathing heavy as he hovered over me now.   
"I love you," he said to me.   
"I love you too."   
And I knew I would love him forever.


	22. Chapter 22

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The chapter is to have scenes from the movie, so credit belongs where it is due.

Percy's POV  
Today was the day. May 5th. Cinco de Mayo. The day of the final task. The day we face Voldemort.  
I looked over at Harry who was talking with the Weasley's. That when I saw him.  
Well, it was Nico who saw him.  
He nudged me and pointed to a man walking out of the crowd towards us.  
"Isn't that your dad?" He asked and my head snapped up, following his finger.  
"Perseus," my father said when he neared us.  
"Dad," I said, confused, yet happy. "What are you doing here?"  
"Can't I wish my son good luck before he sets off to prevent a war?" he asked and I gulped.  
"Well, yeah, I just didn't expect to see you here. I knew Apollo was here, bu-."  
"Did I hear my name?" my godly cousin asked, entering the conversation. "We need to talk a-." Dad cut him off.  
"In a moment, nephew. Let me talk with my son. Tell Nico everything needs to know then talk to Percy," he said and Apollo took Nico by the elbow, pulling him away so we could each have our own conversation.  
"What do you want to talk about?" I asked my dad and he smiled and placed his hand on my shoulder.  
"I just wanted to tell you that I am proud of you and that I trust you will do well in this task."  
I couldn't help the smile that came to my face. My father was proud of me and he trusted me not to fail.  
"I would also like to congratulate you on your choice in partner," he said, making me blush. "You could've defiantly picked worse." I took that as a compliment to Nico, knowing that he could've said much ruder things.  
"Thank you, Dad. That means a lot to hear you say that."  
His smile widened and he pulled me into a hug. "Good luck, Perseus. I'm betting on you." With that, he turned and walked towards Apollo, grabbing Nico and talking to him as Apollo headed towards me.  
Oh gods, poor Neeks.  
"So, Nico knows about his part in this, now let's talk about yours."

 

 

Harry's POV

I was talking with the Weasley's, who were wishing me good luck. I looked over at Percy who was talking alone with a man, even though it was just him and Nico a moment ago.  
"Hermione," I said, elbowing the overly curious girl. "Who do you recon that is?" I asked, gesturing to the man talking with Percy.  
She stared at them for a moment. "I think that's his father."  
"They do look alike," I said, noticing how they had the same black hair, tan skin and strong jaw line.  
A few moments later, Percy's father walked towards Nico and pulled him way from Apollo. He looked terrified.  
"Wonder what they're talking about," I said but Hermione shook her head.  
"I'm more curious as to what Professor Apollo and Percy are talking about."  
I shrugged. "They're probably just discussing spells and stuff like that," I said, but she shook her head again.  
"No, don't tell anyone I told you, but Apollo is Percy's source about the tasks."  
"Really?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. It didn't come as a complete surprise as Apollo and the exchange students were close, but it was a tad unexpected.  
"Yeah, and he's probably giving him some tips on where the Wizard Tournament trophy is."  
I shook my head. "Even if he is, it doesn't matter, does it?"  
She slapped the back of my head. "Of course it does!"  
"Family and friends, please return to the bleachers," the loud voice of Dumbledore said and Hermione and Mrs. Weasley gave me a quick hug before rushing to their seats.  
I looked over at my competition as I was pushed into line and Dumbledore spoke about the order.  
Percy was first, as he won practically every tournament. I was going in with Cedric, Draco and Penelope. After me was Hannah and Cho, followed by Theodore, who was going in alone.  
"The first person to touch the Wizard Tournament Cup wins. If you are unable to stay in the maze or if you get frightened, send up red sparks and one of the referees will come and get you," Dumbledore said as he gestured towards where the professors were standing. "At the sound of the cannon, Percy will-." He was cut off by a loud 'Boom!' and the band started playing.  
Percy gave a wink to the crowd, probably at Nico, as he entered the maze, it closing behind him.

 

 

Percy's POV

As the hedge closed behind me, all sounds cut off. I stiffened at the eerily quiet, not liking the silence.  
I took my first left, starting to wonder around aimlessly as I thought about what Apollo told me. He said that Nico would appear and take me to the cup when the time was right. The god also told me to try to not let the maze get to me, whatever that meant.  
It wasn't long before I got a sense of déjà vu, and I realized immediately why.  
This was exactly like the Labyrinth, the only difference was this time when I went through it, I was alone.  
Something started to happen to me. I started getting angry. Angry at the wizards for making me go on this quest. Angry at this stupid task. Angry at Voldemort because he's not dead. Angry at the gods for making me do this. Even angry at Nico for not being here yet.  
When I ran into someone, I attacked then. I don't know why, I just did.  
"Jackson! What are you doing?" Theodore yelled at I punched him. "Please! Stop! I surrender!" I punched him again.  
"No," I said simply, not excepting his words. "No," I repeated and I knocked him out. I kept punching until someone grabbed my hand for behind.  
I quickly turned around, shoved the person to the ground and I pulled Riptide out of my pocket and pointed it at the person's throat.  
"Percy!" Hannah yelled, but I ignored her.  
I climbed off of her and ran in the other direction.  
I heard a small 'pop' and I looked up to see red sparks being sent up, probably by Hannah for Theodore.  
That's when it hit me.  
I hurt someone.  
Someone who did nothing to me.  
Why did I do that?  
The maze is getting to me, but I can't let it.  
Not long later, something started to happen to me again.  
I started jumping at every noise. Everything I heard the maze change shape, I would flinch. I didn't know why, but I was scared.  
My breathing started getting heavy and my vision blurred as I started gasping for air. My throat closed and I fell to the ground on all fours. The area around me started growing darker and when I felt a hand on my shoulder, I used the rest of my energy to flip around and punch my attacker across the face.  
"Ow!" Nico groaned. I tried to crawl over to him, but I didn't have enough oxygen.  
Nico quickly snapped out of his shock of me punching him and ran over to me, holding me to him.  
"You need to breath, you're having an anxiety attack," he told me and I tried to do as he said, but I shook my head. I couldn't.  
"Percy, calm down," he said in a stern voice.  
After a few minutes of Nico telling me what to do, I calmed down.  
"Are you good?" he asked and I nodded. "Good, because we have to hurry."  
Nico grabbed my hand and we started running, following Apollo's instructions.  
Left  
Right  
Left...No you're other left. Good job, idiot.  
Right  
Right  
Right, no I meant left...DON'T CALL ME THAT!  
After arguing in my head, Nico and I saw the cup in the distance. We also saw two people who seemed to be out of breath.  
"Harry, thanks," Cedric said.  
"No problem."  
"You know, for a moment there I thought you were going to let it get me," and Harry shrugged slightly.  
"For a moment, so did I."  
The two boys stared at each other before wind started blowing.  
"Go!" Cedric shouted and the two of them started running.  
Shadow travel to the cup  
Nico must have heard too, and he grabbed my arm and pulled the shadows to us.  
We stood in the shadows as the two boys ran to cup that was in front of us, asking to get picked up.  
"Go on, take it!" Cedric told Harry as the neared the cup. "You saved me, take it!"  
"Together!" Harry yelled, but before either of them could move, Nico jumped into action.  
He punched Cedric across the face, causing Harry freak out.  
"Nico! What are you doing?" Harry yelled.  
"Helping!"  
Grab the cup!  
"On the count of three, we grab the cup," I said but Harry shook his head.  
"What about Cedric?" he asked, gesturing to the now unconscious boy on the ground.  
"Don't worry, he'll be alright...mostly." I rolled my eyes at Nico's words.  
"Now we need to grab the cup," I instructed but Harry shook his head again, not understanding the seriousness of the conversation.  
"Harry, either you grab the cup when I say three or I'll make you," Nico threatened and Harry nodded.  
"One, two, three!"  
With that, we all grabbed the cup.

 

 

Percy's POV

I don't know what that mode of travel was called, but it was far worse than Shadow Traveling.  
We crashed to the ground with no chance of ending on our feet and Nico landed on top of me. The trophy was thrown from our grip, landing about twenty feet away. Groaning, we stood up.  
"You okay?" Nico asked, dusting himself off.  
"Yeah, you?" I said as Harry looked around, terrified.  
"I've been here before," Harry said, looking at the giant statue of who was probably supposed to be Thanatos or the Grim Reaper. "I've been here before. In a dream."  
"Hide," Apollo said in my mind and I ran off as quickly as I could, not noticing that Nico wasn't following me.  
When I hid behind a tombstone about twenty feet away and out of sight, I saw Nico huddled over Harry, trying to help him as he doubled over in pain.  
"Get back to the cup! Now!" Harry groaned but Nico ignored him.  
"Harry, what's wrong?"  
"Get back to the cup!" he repeated, holding his forehead in pain and Nico seemed to ignore his command again. A mousey looking man walked out from a crypt, holding a bundle of what seemed like clothes, or maybe a baby.  
The cauldron that stood the left of them started on fire.  
Nico stood tall, acting like a soldier, a warrior, ready for battle. He looked around, surveying the area, the boiling cauldron and the man.  
"Get behind me," Nico commanded.  
"What-," Harry started but Nico cut him off.  
"Now!" He yelled and Harry hid behind him.  
"Kill the spare!" A voice rasped and there was a bright green light coming from the wand of the mousey man. It hit Nico square in the chest and sent him flying. I screamed, but nothing came out. When tried to get up and run to him, but something held me in place.  
"No!" Harry screamed.  
'Don't worry, he'll be fine,' Apollo said and I looked up at the sky like it was crazy.  
Apollo and I had a quick conversation of me calling him a bunch of very nasty names and me threatening him as the mousy man trapped Harry on the statue.  
"Do it, now," a voice rasped, ending the argument between the god and myself.  
The man dropped what seemed to be a baby in the cauldron and then wasted no time getting to work. He just killed a baby. Dick.  
'That was Voldemort, idiot.'  
'Jerk.'  
'Ass.'  
'You piece of shit.'  
'You fish.'  
'Glowstick.'  
"Bone of the father, unwillingly given," the man said, using his wand and taking a bone from a grave labeled 'Thomas Riddle'. "Flesh of the servant, willingly sacrificed." He cut off his hand and screamed. What the Hades is wrong with this guy?  
He walked over to Harry and cut his sleeve before cutting into his arm. "And blood of the enemy, forcibly taken." Something, Apollo probably, was holding me in place as I tried to run and help.  
"The Dark Lord shall rise again!" he shouted as he dripped the blood off the knife into the cauldron, causing it to bubble and Harry to scream.  
The cauldron starts on fire once again, but this time the flames are higher. The mousey man ran off to hide and what appeared to be a screaming man forms and holy shit, it was pretty gross.  
Thankfully, a cloak appeared on him. He blinked is snake-like eyes and reached his hands to touch his bald head.  
Man, this guy is ugly.  
The mousey guy walked back.  
"My wand, Wormtail," Voldemort said and 'Wormtail' bowed as he handed it over. "Hold out your arm."  
"Master, thank you. Master," the man squeaked.  
"The other arm, Wormtail," the gross guy said impatiently.  
The man frowned and held out the arm that he still had. Voldie pressed the tip of his wand to the mans arm, and the sky darkened. A, what Apollo called a 'Dark Mark', formed in the sky. People appeared in puffs of smoke, standing in a circle.  
Voldemort made a speech, and to be honest, I wasn't really listening. I was more focused on the fact that these guys looked more like the Grim Reaper than Thanatos did. They had on black pointy hats and wore skulls as masks. Defiantly more scary than Thanatos.  
Voldie pulled their masks off and they fell.  
'Lucius' talked with Voldemort and all I could think about was that this guy looked a lot like Malfoy, and based on how shitty of a person he was, this was probably his dad.  
'It is. They're both dicks.'  
Wormtail intervened, talking. He ended up getting a hand. Good for him.  
'Man, you're being sassy!'  
'Oh, well, it might have something to do with my DEAD BOYFRIEND LYING FIFTEEN FEET AWAY!'  
'He's fine.'  
Speaking of Nico, Voldemort walked over to him and turned his face with his foot. Poor Nico. He stared blankly at the sky, but I could see the faintest movement of his chest. No one else would see it unless they were looking closely.  
"Tsk tsk tsk. Such a handsome boy."  
"Don't you touch him!" Oh, so Harry does care. That's good.   
"Harry, I almost forgot you were here, standing on the bones of my father."  
He started talking to Harry about the power of love. Aphrodite probably had something to do with that. He got all up in Harry's face, showing off for his followers, trying to prove that Harry wasn't as powerful as people though.  
"I can touch you know," he said and dramatically touched Harry on his forehead with one finger, probably on his scar.  
Harry screamed in pain.  
That's when I saw Nico move. Thankfully no one else was looking. He turned his head and looked at me, but from the look on my face (and probably someone talking in his head) he could tell that he needed to pretend to still be dead.   
He closed his eyes once more.


	23. Chapter 23

Nico's POV

My leg was bouncing up and down with anxiety. Apollo told me my job and I was freaking out.  
He said I was going to have to die. Not for real, but real enough to convince a seriously powerful wizard that I was dead. And Harry, but that's not as important.  
You know what's also not as important? Everything Apollo told me compared to me talking with Poseidon. Talk about nerve-racking.  
He told me that I wasn't the worst person that Percy could've chosen, and I took that as I huge compliment. He also said that if I hurt Percy, he wasn't afraid to start World War III.  
"Are you okay?" Hermione asked as the last person entered the maze.  
"Yeah, I'm just nervous for Percy. He can't seem to stay out of trouble," I told her and she nodded and changed the subject.  
"Who was that that was talking with Percy earlier?"  
I sighed in annoyance. At least it wouldn't be much longer until Percy and I proved our trust.  
"It was Percy's dad," I said simply, not wanting to go into many more detail.  
"I thought he was in the Navy?"  
I just shrugged.  
It was an hour later when I felt a slight ringing in my ears, meaning something was happening with Percy.  
I got up from my seating, muttering something along the lines of, 'bathroom,' and once I was away from prying eyes, I pulled in the shadows.  
I wasn't sure where I was going, but I focused on the ringing in my ears and I focused on Percy's soul, and I ended up where I needed to be.  
I saw him on all fours, struggling to breath. I did what came naturally and ran to him, grabbing his shoulder.  
He freaked and flipped around, punching me across the face and sending me to the ground.  
He tried to move to me, but he seemed too out of it. It wasn't more than a few seconds before I snapped out of my shock and ran over to him.  
I grabbed him from behind and pulled him to my chest, holding him to me as he sat in my lap.  
"You need to breath, you're having an anxiety attack," I told him and he shook his head. "Percy, calm down," I said in a stern voice. "Please, you'll be okay. I just need you to breath."  
It took a few minutes and a few kisses on his neck before he was calm.  
'You need to get going,' Apollo told me.  
"Are you good?" I asked and he nodded. "Good, because we have to hurry."  
I stood up, pulling him up with me, and Percy took the lead as we started running.  
He had a focused look on his face and it seemed like he was having an argument with himself, or, more likely, a god.  
We took a few wrong turns, we got to where we were headed.  
Harry and Cedric seemed to be having a conversation, but I was to bust talking with Apollo.  
'Do I really have to die?'  
'Don't worry, I promise you'll be fine. You'll pass out, but after you wake up, your safety will be up to you. Now, shadow travel to the cup.'  
I grabbed Percy's hand and pulled the shadows towards us.  
We stood in the shadows as the two boys ran to cup that was in front of us.  
'You need to stop Cedric or he'll die, and his death will be real.'  
Before they started to count down, I ran forward and gave Cedric a solid right hook.  
"Nico! What are you doing?" Harry yelled as the boy hit the ground.  
"Helping!" I told him.  
"On the count of three, we grab the cup," Percy said, but Harry shook his head.  
"What about Cedric?" he asked, pointing to the guy I just punched.  
"Don't worry, he'll be alright...mostly," I said and I saw Percy roll his eyes.  
"Now we need to grab the cup," Percy stated, but Harry shook his head again.  
"Harry, either you grab the cup when I say three or I'll make you," I threatened and Harry nodded, muttering an 'okay'.  
"One, two, three!"  
We all grabbed the cup.  
We landed in what was apparently a graveyard and I suddenly felt stronger. Being on my own turf did that to me.  
The landing was anything but soft, but thankfully I landed on my lovely boyfriend who groaned in pain as I stood up.  
I saw that the cup was thrown about twenty feet away.  
"You okay?" I asked, dusting myself off.  
"Yeah, you?" Percy said as Harry looked around, seeming scared out of his mind.  
"I've been here before," Harry said. "I've been here before. In a dream."  
I noticed that Percy ran off, but Apollo told me not to follow him.  
Harry doubled over in pain, and I tried to help him, but he ignored me.  
"Get back to the cup! Now!" Harry groaned but I didn't listen, doing what Apollo had told me to do earlier.  
"Harry, what's wrong?" I asked, making sure to not look at Percy.  
"Get back to the cup!" he repeated, holding his forehead in pain.  
I felt a disturbance and saw a mousey looking man walked out from a crypt, holding a dark and evil soul.  
The cauldron that stood the left of us started on fire.  
I stood up tall, preparing myself for what was about to come. I looked around, keeping my eye on the cauldron and the strange man.  
"Get behind me," I commanded.  
"What-," Harry started but I cut him off.  
"Now!" I yelled and Harry did as I said.  
"Kill the spare!" A voice rasped and I felt my body stay in place, not letting me dodge what was coming.  
The last thing I saw was a piercing green light.  
*****  
I woke up to someone screaming. The first thing I saw was a very annoyed, yet relived boyfriend giving me a look that said, 'move and die...again.'  
'Don't move,' Apollo said in my head and I closed my eyes once again.  
'Yeah, I got that,' I said back.  
'You know, your boy-toy has been very sassy since you were knocked out. He was worried about you.'  
'Yeah, well he sort of loves me. I'd hope me would be worried,' I said, remembering all the times we had shared 'I love you's.'  
'I think it's more than that. I think he's in love with you.'  
I refrained myself from opening my eyes and looking at Percy.  
'Really?' I asked.  
'Really.'

 

Percy's POV

I focused my attention on both Nico and Harry, but mostly on Nico.  
I saw him lying there peacefully, his eyelids twitching, and I also saw Harry get pulled from the statue of Thanatos.  
Voldemort starts demanding that Harry duel him, but he declines and gets 'Crucio' used on him, making him fall to the ground, groaning in pain.  
'You should probably intervene now. Nico will be joining in a soon enough.'  
I took that as my queue, and I stood up. No one was looking as they were all focused on the pending duel.  
"Yo! Dumbass!" I yelled and Voldemort turned him attention on me, no longer pointing his wand at the screaming boy.  
"And who might you be?" Voldemort asked and I chuckled, drawing my sword.  
"The person who's going to kill you all."

 

Harry's POV

As Percy uncapped what seemed to be a pen, three separate people send the Killing Curse at him. He dodged two of them and deflected the other away with the blade of his pen/sword. It went flying at a brown-haired man, hitting him in the chest, killing him.  
The Death Eaters charged at him and Percy's eyes became cold, brutal and calculating.  
Other than Percy's eyes, all things seemed casual to him. It even looked like he was having fun.  
"Wonder if this will hurt you?" He asked allowed as one of the men neared him. He didn't hesitate as he stabbed him in the stomach. I saw the blade slice clear through him. "Apparently it does," he said and chuckled.  
For the first time, I was actually scared of Percy.  
As he sliced down three of the remaining men, he reminded me of a soldier. A warrior. A hero that I used to read stories about. But he also reminded me a villain. Someone who can kill without regret. Someone dangerous and deadly.  
My jaw dropped as water started to lift out of nowhere, coming from the grass and the air. It got slightly harder to breath as Percy pulled the water towards him. It quickly absorbed into his skin and he started to move faster.  
He took down two more guys, killing them all and knocking out Malfoy by flipping him over his shoulder and then kicking him in the head while he was down.  
"I'll be talking to your son about this," Percy said to the now-unconscious guy.  
My line of sight wondered to where Nico's body laid, but I saw the spot empty.  
It was Wormtail and Voldemort left. Peter got brave and stood in front of him master and started threatening the blood-covered boy.  
"You take one more step and you'll be in the worse pain imaginable," he said, holding out his wand.  
Percy didn't miss a beat as he swung him sword, decapitating the man that betrayed my parents.  
"Don't fuck with me," Percy spat as Wormtail's head and body fell to the ground separate.  
Percy and Voldemort stared at each other, communicating with their eyes.  
"Why are you doing this?" Percy asked and cocked his head.  
"I want to live forever," the Dark Lord answered. "I want to be immortal."  
Percy shook his head. "Immortality is not something that you can get though magical means. It's not even something that you should want."  
"And why would that be?" Voldemort asked, curios.  
"Because people should live and then they should die. Or, in your case, be killed."  
"You can't kill me," Voldemort stated, acting like it was a fact.  
I saw Percy smirk. "Oh, I'm not going to, he is."  
Before Voldemort could react, a black sword was stuck through his chest.  
"Have fun in Tartarus," Nico growled over the Dark Lord's shoulder. I had never seen Nico like this before. Percy either for that matter.  
There was a sickening smile on their faces as Voldemort fell to the ground, dead.  
I stared at the body in shock.  
It was over.  
It was all over.  
The man who killed my parents was dead.  
And... he was killed... by my...friends?  
"Nice stabbing!" Percy said, holding his hand up for a high-five.  
Nico chuckled and shook his head, but he returned the gesture.  
"Looks like I missed out on all the fun," he said.  
"Well, you were the one to officially kill the bastard," Percy said and Nico walked closer to his boyfriend. He wiped some blood off his partner's lips before kissing him softly.  
That snapped me out of it.  
"What the bloody hell just happened!" I screamed and Percy and Nico's heads snapped to look at me.  
"We just ended the war."  
"But...how?" I asked and they shrugged and gestured around them.  
"We killed everyone," Nico stated.  
"Well, not everyone," Percy added and walked over to the longhaired blonde man.   
A few skeletons rose from the ground and started pulling all the bodies into a pile as the boys spoke. It freaked me out and I lifted my wand, but when neither Percy nor Nico looked worried, I lowered it.  
"Well be bringing Malfoy here back alive to answer for his crimes," Percy said and Nico nodded. With a little help from Nico, Lucius was over Percy's shoulder and they walked back over me.  
"Ready?" Nico asked and I gave them a dumbfounded look.  
"Ready for what?" I asked and Nico smiled.  
"To go inform everyone that the war has ended before it even had the chance to begin."  
I nodded my head and he held out his hand, pulling me so I was standing.  
The three of us walked over to the piled of bodies, Voldemort's was on top.  
The shadows started twisting around Nico's body, almost like they were obeying him.  
"Don't hold your breath," he warned and I became conscious of my breathing.  
There was a cold and dark feeling, and the next thing I knew, we were in front of a cheering crowd.


	24. Chapter 24

Hermione's POV

Thirty minutes after Nico disappeared, Apollo walked into the middle of the crowds’ attention.  
"There have been some...change of events. Things have gone a little haywire and when the winners appear, I need you to all stay in your seat."  
"Did you say winners?" Someone called out.  
"I did. I might as well tell you now. Both Percy and Harry grabbed the Wizard Tournament cup at the same time-."  
"Does that mean they split the prize?"  
"Stop interrupting me!" Apollo yelled, starting to get angry. "They were taken away to a graveyard where the Dark Lord Voldemort rose and-"  
"Liar!"  
Faster than light, Apollo pulled his wand out and pointed it at the boy, shouting something like, 'Shut the fuck up!'  
Light flashed out of his wand and the boy was suddenly tied up in ropes with duct tape over his mouth.  
"As I was saying!" he snapped, yelling. "Percy, Harry and Nico-."  
"Nico?"  
Apollo moved faster than I thought possible, bending down, grabbing a rock, and chucking it at the boy who spoke, hitting his straight in the neck.  
"Shut up! I am speaking and this is important!" He yelled. He seemed less like a teacher and more like an angry teen. He started to glow, before taking a few breaths to calm himself.  
"As I was saying!" he repeated, the crowd now silent, "Percy, Harry and Nico di Angelo, and yes, Nico di Angelo, all grabbed the cup at the same time. They were taken to a graveyard where they are currently at. They are watching Voldemort rise, only to fall very soon. He-."  
"And how do you know this?" a girl called out, stopping whatever the professor was going to say next.  
The wand in Apollo's hand was snapped in two, causing everyone to gasp. A wizard just broke his own wand.  
"I swear to my father the next person who speaks will get stabbed." Everyone was silent once again. "So, when they appear, you will all say in the stands and listen to their explanation. They will be tired and bloody and will want nothing more than to just go to bed. They-."  
"Why should be believe you?"  
Apollo threw one half of his wand and it ended up stuck into the boys shoulder. When he opened his mouth to scream, nothing came out.  
"I'm sick of you wizards. We shouldn't have sent anyone to help you. You all should've just died."  
I raised my hand tentatively, as to not get stabbed with half of a wand.  
"Yes Hermione."  
"What are you talking about?" I asked and Apollo sighed, running a hand through his golden hair.  
"Percy and Nico were sent here to help you guys. The Elemental Wizards chose the elite of the elite and sent Percy and Nico to stop the war against Voldemort before he could rise and go on a murder spree. They are both Elemental Wizards. They were the ones dressed in blue and black when I had the wizards visit.  
"They have been here helping, learning and gaining your trust so that when this happened, you would believe them. Percy and Nico have been preparing for this and have been ready to do anything that was nec-."  
"They knew this was going to happen? How!"  
"Because Elemental Wizards are far better than you losers!"  
"Are you an Elemental Wizard?" Someone called out and Apollo started shaking.  
"Yes you dumbasses!" He yelled.  
"What do your powers have to do with?"  
The clouds moved from in front of the sun and the boy who spoke was suddenly in a ray of light, screaming as his skin turned red.  
"Light, now, back to the subject you're your pending doom!" The professor yelled, "It has currently been delayed to something that doesn't have to do with the Dark Lord who has risen and is being killed right about," he looked at his watch, "now."  
Everyone looked confused and worried about what Professor Apollo was talking about.  
"So, Percy, Harry and Nico will be appearing soon and you will all stay where you are. You will not speak as they inform you of what has happened. Or, at least, what they want to tell you about the events that happened. Do you understand?"  
There was quiet 'yes's' and nodded. No one wanted to speak up because no one wanted yelled at, stabbed or get a killer sunburn.  
Everyone sat in silence for the next few minutes. The clouds once again covered the sun and the arena grew darker.  
Out of the shadows appeared a traumatized Harry, a tired looking Nico, a blood-covered Percy who had someone thrown over his shoulder, and a pile of dead bodies. Everyone gasped when they saw who was on top.  
Even though most of the people here had no idea what the Dark Lord looked like, we all knew that it was him.  
Percy threw the person over his shoulder to the ground and Draco ran to his father once we all saw who it was.  
"Voldemort's dead. He will no longer be a worry," Percy said, his voice slightly deeper and more like a commander than usual. "Most of his followers are dead too," he added, gesturing to the pile of dead bodies.  
"We will not say exactly what took place in the cemetery, but we will tall you that the Voldemort threat is over," Nico stated. "We would also like to clear the name of Sirius Black," he said, shocking everyone including, it seems, Harry.  
"He was not the one to give up James and Lily Potter," Percy said and walked over to the pile of bodies, picking up a round object. When I realized it was a head, I swallowed down the bile that rose in my throat. Some other people actually ran off and puked.  
"It's was Peter Pettigrew," Nico informed everyone who hadn't recognized the lifeless face of the head in Percy's hands. Percy seemed like he was holding something other than a head. He looked casual, like he'd been through something bloody like this before.  
"We expect the name of Sirius Black to be cleared by tonight. If not, well come for you and make you clear it," Percy threatened, looking at the Minister of Magic who was standing in utter shock. I hadn't even noticed him until this moment.  
I saw Mr. Malfoy wake up, and with the help of his son, he tried to get away. Nico noticed too and took his wand out of his back pocket and chucked it at the older blonde, stabbing him through the shoulder. He high-fived Percy.  
"Told you I could stab someone with my wand," he said and Percy chuckled and Nico walked over to his victim, scaring Draco away.  
"And I told you that could be taken more than one way," Percy called.  
Nico pulled his wand out of Lucius' shoulder, making his howl in pain, and kicked him to the ground.  
"This man is to be arrested and tired and convicted for being a Death Eater."  
"You're war is over, now I'm going to go shower," Percy said and tossed the head back into the pile, shooting it like it was a basketball.  
"When we show up for school tomorrow, we expect no questions," Nico informed everyone and grabbed his boyfriends hand. "Now, good night."  
He and Percy disappeared into a cloud of shadows.  
Harry stood there with everyone starting at him. He had a little blood on his clothes, but not even close to the amount that Percy had. Percy had been drenched; Harry was splattered.  
Apollo walked over to my friend and put an arm around him, whispering in his ear. Harry nodded and the professor directed him away from the center of attention, only to return there himself.  
"Those boys are to be left alone," he announced. "You can find out anything you want to know through me."  
Let the questions begin.


	25. Chapter 25

Nico's POV

"Guys, I think it would be fair if I didn't take your money," I said as Fred and George tried paying me the fifty gallons I had bet on Percy at the beginning of the school year.  
"No, it was a fair bet," George argued but I just shook my head.  
"I bet that Percy would win, not that he'd tie with Harry."  
Fred sighed. "I wish others though the way you did."  
"We have twice the amount of people trying to get money out of us," George continued.  
"But not you."  
I shrugged. "It wouldn't be considered fair in my books."  
They both sighed once again and left, going to either collect or pay off the rest of the bets.  
Even though people don't know exactly what had happened in the cemetery a few weeks ago, most of the wizards were still scared of us.  
Some of the braver ones would come up to us at meal times or in the Common Room and thank Percy and I for what we did. We would just tell them that we did what we were sent here to do, which would cause them to ask us about being Elemental Wizards.  
Since Percy and I wouldn't know what to say to that, we would just repeat what Apollo would tell us in our minds.  
Today was the last day before school got out and Dumbledore had announced that there was something happening tonight in the arena after dinner.  
Of course, Percy and I knew what it was.  
When we walked out of the front of the castle, we made sure to separate ourselves from our group of friends.  
"Are you ready?" I asked Percy and he bumped his shoulder with mine.  
"I'm not sure, but I'm excited."  
When we reached Dumbledore, he told us to remain hidden until after his announcement.  
He walked to the center of the ring and put his wand to his throat, saying a spell.  
"As a celebration for school ending, we will be putting on a fight. Mr. Percy Jackson and Mr. Nico di Angelo have agreed to fight a fight like you've never seen before. There will be no rules and no holding back. All powers will be allowed. You'll be amazed and I'm sure you all want to see what they can do."

 

Harry's POV

Percy and Nico entered the arena and everyone was cheering. They were each wearing a breastplate and that was it for armor.  
Dumbledore did a countdown before quickly getting out of their way.  
Their fight was like nothing I'd ever seen before.  
Some of us had seen them fight each other earlier this year over Christmas Break, but this was different.  
This time, they weren't holding back.  
The shadows and the water intertwined and danced around each other as both Percy and Nico went in for the kill.  
Nico was raising skeletons and Percy was taking water from the buckets that were provided and slashing them down as fast as they were appearing.  
They each wore matching smiles as they tried to kill each other.  
It went on for about thirty minutes until Nico got the upper hand.  
I'm not sure how it happened, but Nico's sword ended up at Percy's throat. It wasn't the first time it had happened, but this time Percy dropped his arm sword and raised his hands up in surrender. They were both breathing heavily and bleeding severely.  
After they bowed, Apollo rushed them out of sight, probably to help stop the bleeding so they didn't die.  
*****  
By the time we were back at the castle and in our dorms for the last time this year, we saw Nico and Percy waiting for us. But they weren't alone.  
There was a beautiful girl with brown hair that was braided with feathers and a curly haired elf-like boy.  
They looked at us as the three of us entered.  
"Holy shit, you're right."  
"I know I'm right," the elf boy replied to Nico who was staring at me. There was a constant beeping.  
The elf boy grabbed the machine that was sitting on the bed by him before walking over to me, scanning me with it.  
"I'm totally right," he stated before sticking his hand out to me. "Hi, I'm Leo and this here is Piper," he said, pointing at the beautiful girl. "We already know who you are, so there's no need for you guys to introduce yourselves. Now, to get to the point, the machine I'm holding finds horcurux's and you're a horcurux. Part of this 'Voldemort' guy's soul is inside of you and Nico needs to get it out."  
We started at Leo like he was crazy, and based on the look on his face, he probably was.  
"What?" I asked, looking at the two boys who I knew.  
"He's right. It's better if we explained after we got rid of it," Nico said before standing up and walking over to me. "Now, I'm not sure if this will work, but it's safer than killing you."  
He placed his hand on my forehead before I fell to the ground, blacking out.

 

 

Ron's POV

I had no idea what was going on, and based on the look on Hermione's face, she didn't either.  
When Harry fell to the ground, Nico did too. There was whining and groaning coming from both of them. We stood there, staring at them for about a minute before they sat up together, gasping for air.  
"What the bloody hell just happened?" I demanded and Nico rolled his eyes.  
"The horcurux in Harry was sent to the Underworld," he said as if that explained everything.  
"That explains nothing!" I shouted, making Nico roll his eyes again.  
"Well, I guess it's time for an explanation."

 

Nico's POV

After Apollo had healed us, he sent Percy and I up to the castle. Apollo had cured are tiredness, saying that there was a surprise in our room and that I'd need my energy for it.  
When Perce and I walked into the room, we were tackled to the floor by Leo, just like he'd done a few months back.  
"Leo," we groaned and shoved him off of us. "What are you doing here?"  
"I've miss you so much!" He yelled, kissing us both on the cheeks. "And Piper and I are here on a quest!"  
That's when I noticed the daughter of Aphrodite. Thankfully, she didn't tackle us and just pulled Percy and I to our feet, hugging us.  
"Quest?" Percy asked her and she nodded.  
"When we left here at the beginning of the year, Leo and I were summoned to Olympus and given a quest to destroy some horcuxes," she said and I tensed.  
"What! Whose!" I yelled, pissed.  
Horcruxes went against everything that was normal and natural. My father and Thanatos hated them as they were one of the ways to cheat death."  
"This 'Lord Voldemort' guy that you killed a few weeks ago."  
"What are horcuxes?" Perce asked and I gave him a quick explanation about how they split your soul apart. "Why didn't we know about this sooner? We could've helped," Percy said, slightly peeved.  
Leo shrugged. "The gods thought you deserved a break after all you've done here."  
Percy sighed in annoyance. "We still should've been told."  
We continued talking, eventually changing the topic to Harry and how he himself was a horcurux.   
Of course, I didn't believe Leo about that because I would've noticed, but he tried to prove me wrong with a machine he was holding.  
After talking about how I would need get rid of it, if he really was one, we were interrupted. That's when I got an idea.  
One that Harry would love.

 

Hermione's POV

They explained to us about Horcruxes and how 'Piper' and 'Leo' were on a quest to get rid of them, they told us how they had gotten all of them, except the one in Harry, and now that Nico had 'banished' the horcurux, Voldemort was done for.  
They mentioned something about 'Fields of Punishment' and 'Tartarus' which went along with Roman mythology. I already knew that they believed in that stuff because they told us over Easter Break, so I didn't question it.  
Nico also said that he had a surprise for Harry and took him out of the room.  
"Where are they going?" I asked when the door shut and Percy smiled.  
"You know how Nico can raise the dead and summon spirits?" he asked and Ron and I nodded. "He's summoning James and Lily for Harry as an apology for everything we've put him through this year."  
My words slipped out. "I'm sorry I didn't trust you," I exclaimed, feeling guilty for not believing them even after all the things they've done for us. "I'm sorry for asking you so many questions and for doubting you at every turn and for all the things I put you through this year. You two are nice people and have done so much for us."  
Percy smiled and pulled me into a hug.  
"It's okay."

 

 

Harry's POV

I didn't know what to say. Nico had just summoned my parents for me.  
He let me talk with them.  
He let me hug them.  
He let me see my parent's that had died so many years ago.  
When they finally had to go, I turned to Nico.  
Thank you," I said, tears streaming down my face. I pulled him into a hug and cried into his shoulder as he rubbed my back. "Thank you."

 

Ron's POV

I'll be honest, it was an emotional goodbye at the train station.  
There was crying, maybe or maybe not by myself, and lot of hugging. A LOT.  
There were 'thank you's' and 'I'm sorry's' and 'It's okay's' and much more.  
Percy and Nico were staying behind at Hogwarts with their friends because they had another way back to America. It was probably Nico's shadow thing. I didn't think much of it.  
It wasn't long before Harry, Hermione and I were on the train back home, leaving Nico and Percy behind.


	26. Epilogue

Third Person

As soon as the train went off into the distance, there was a bright flash of light and the four demigods were taken to the Olympian Thrown Room.  
Percy looked around, noticing all the things that Annabeth had changed, but it didn't make him sad. It made him happy.  
He still missed her, but it no longer hurt to think about her.  
He thought back to the time when Nico had snuck him into the Underworld all those months ago to tell her goodbye. She had told him that she was his guide and that they weren't meant to be together. The more he thought about it, the more right she was.  
She was the one to make him give up immortality. If he hadn't done that, he wouldn't have been able to be apart of the Seven. And he wouldn't've been able to fall in love with Nico di Angelo.  
Nico looked up at his boyfriend and smiled.  
There was nothing he loved more than him.  
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Aphrodite smile. He knew that he had her to thank for his and Percy's love and he couldn't be more grateful.  
"Heroes," Zeus' voice thundered around the Throne Room. "It's time that we once again say thank you."  
"You helped us out once more with only mild complaining," Hera added, smiling for the first time at the demigods standing in front of her. "Some of the gods would like to give you gifts as a thank you. But first," she said, looking at Percy, "Would you like to be changed back?"  
Percy knew exactly what she was talking about and shook his head, grabbing Nico's hand in his own.  
"You know what? This look is good for now. I don't want to seem to much older than Nico," he said, bumping shoulders with the smaller boy.  
The gods smiled at the couple.  
"I would like to bless you with all with happy relationships and families," Hera said. "They will be faithful and full of love. Also, I'm the goddess of Motherhood and Childbirth, so for the relationships that can't have a child on their own, I'll grant you one when you're ready."  
Percy and Nico smiled at each other, gripped their hands together tighter.  
"My turn," Aphrodite said, getting giddy. She looked at the heroes who turned to face her. "Mine isn't a blessing so much as it is a promise," she said, smiling. "I promise that I won't medal in your relationships unless I'm asked."  
The demigods smiled, happy to have one less thing to worry about.  
"I would like to give you all these," Hades said and with a wave of his hand they were all holding credit cards. "Go and have an easy life without having to care about money."  
"I would like to grant you all one free question about your future," Apollo said, taking the attention off of Hades and putting it on himself. "No rhymes or riddles, just a straight answer. You can ask me at any time, but only one per person."  
Hephaestus cleared his throat. "Leo, you asked me for a favor not that long ago, and I would like to say that she's waiting for you on the beach of Camp Half-Blood."  
Leo's eyes widened and he started shaking and bouncing up and down in excitement. He knew exactly what his father was talking about.  
"And lastly, I would like to grant you all free roam of the ocean and safety from all creatures in it," Poseidon said, directing most of what he was saying to his son's partner.  
"Now, where would you like to go?" Zeus asked, looking at the heroes, having finished what they wanted to say.  
"The beach," Leo said, answering for all of them. When the others nodded, he waved his hand and there was a bright flash of light.  
*****  
Piper headed up to her cabin to tell her siblings what had happened on her quest.  
Leo was to busy hugging and kissing Calypso to even notice the crowd of people that were surrounding the new girl.  
Percy had pulled Nico away from the crowd and grabbed two surfboards from the stands that were behind him, taking him to a more secluded part of the beach, away from prying eyes.  
"What are you doing?" Nico asked, confused.  
"I told you that we'd go surfing!" Percy said with a smile plastered onto his face. "Just like I promised!"  
"Gods, Percy, I love you," Nico responded, chuckling.  
Percy grabbed his boyfriend and pulled him in for a kiss.  
"I love you too."

Fin


End file.
